anecdote vs recital

anecdote

noun
  • A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting. 

  • A previously untold secret account of an incident. 

  • An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis. 

verb
  • To tell anecdotes (about). 

recital

noun
  • The act of telling the order of events of something in detail the order of events; narration. 

  • The act of reciting (the repetition of something that has been memorized); rehearsal 

  • A vocal, instrumental or visual performance by a soloist. 

  • That which is recited; a story, narration, account. 

  • A formal, preliminary statement in a deed or writing in order to explain the reasons on which the transaction is founded, prior to a positive allegation. 

How often have the words anecdote and recital occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )