To recapture means to catch or take back something that escaped or was lost. When a zoo animal gets loose, workers try to recapture it and return it safely to its enclosure. Police might recapture an escaped prisoner. During a war, an army might recapture territory it had lost to the enemy.

The word also describes recovering a feeling or experience from the past. A family might visit their old neighborhood to recapture memories of when the children were young. A musician returning to an instrument after years away tries to recapture the joy they once felt playing it. Athletes coming back from injury work to recapture their former strength and skill.

You can only recapture something you once had. You can't recapture a feeling you never experienced or recapture a fish you never caught in the first place. The word carries a sense of trying to get back something precious that slipped away, whether that's a physical thing, a moment in time, or a feeling you want to experience again.