Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Recantation \Re`can*ta"tion\, n.
   The act of recanting; a declaration that contradicts a former
   one; that which is thus asserted in contradiction;
   retraction.

         The poor man was imprisoned for this discovery, and
         forced to make a public recantation.     --Bp.
                                                  Stillingfleet.

Source : WordNet®

recantation
     n : a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion [syn: {retraction},
          {abjuration}]