Definition of "recapitulate"

recapitulate

/ɹiːkəˈpɪtʃʊleɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present recapitulates, present participle recapitulating, simple past and past participle recapitulated
1. (transitive, intransitive) To summarize or repeat in concise form.
2. (transitive) To reproduce or closely resemble (as in structure or function).
3. (transitive) (biology, of an organism) To mirror or repeat in analogous form, especially in reference to an individual's development passing through stages corresponding to the species' stages of evolutionary development.
  Quotations
  Similarly this concept of unity provided a powerful impetus for embryological studies and the idea that fetal development recapitulates the steps of phylogenetic development.
  1997 May, G. A. Bray, “Growth of a Molecular Base for Feeding”, in Obesity Research, volume 5, number 3, page 272

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