retract
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈtɹækt/
ipa: /ɹɪˈtɹækt/
ipa: /ɹiˈtɹækt/
ipa: /ɹəˈtɹækt/
rhymes: -ækt
Forms: form: retracts
form: retracting
form: retracted
form: retracted
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: retract
form: retract
form: retracted
form: retract
form: retractest
form: retracted
form: retractedst
form: retracts
form: retracteth
form: retracted
form: retract
form: retracted
form: retract
form: retracted
form: retract
form: -
form: retracting
form: retracted
Etymology: From Middle French rétracter (“to annul; to reconsider; to withdraw”) (modern French rétracter (“to retract; to contract”)), and from its etymon Latin retractāre, the present active infinitive of retractō (“to retract, withdraw; to annul, revoke; to detract from; to undertake again; to reconsider; to remember; to decline, refuse”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + tractō (“to drag, haul, tug”) (from trahō (“to drag, pull; to extract, withdraw”) + -tō (frequentative suffix forming verbs)).
Senses: examples: text: Fill'd with the Satisfaction of their own diſcerning Faculties, they [natural history writers] paſs Judgment at firſt ſight; write on, and are above being ever brought to retract it.
ref: 1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “Preface to the Whole”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 6:
glosses: To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously bestowed); to rescind, to revoke.
glosses: To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege.
examples: text: I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
text: And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull; […]
ref: 1671, Edward Stillingfleet, A Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome, […], 2nd edition, London: […] Robert White for Henry Mortlock […], →OCLC, page 363:
text: She will, and ſhe will not; ſhe grants, denies, / Conſents, retracts, advances, and then flies, / Approving and rejecting in a Breath, / Now proff'ring Mercy, now preſenting Death!
ref: 1710, [George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne], “The British Enchanters; or, No Magick Like Love. A Dramatick Poem. […]”, in Poems upon Several Occasions, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], published 1712, →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 195:
text: He has also suggested in a newspaper interview that China could be appeased if it were given partial control of Taiwan. An official in Taipei demanded that he retract his suggestion.
ref: 2022 October 26, Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: unsay
word: unspeak
word: walk back
word: withcall
word: withdraw
word: abjure
word: backpedal
word: disavow
word: disown
word: eat one's words
word: recall
word: recant
word: retract
word: revoke
word: swallow
word: take back
word: unsay
word: unspeak
word: walk back
word: withcall
word: withdraw
antonyms: affirm
confirm
maintain
glosses: To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written); to disavow, to repudiate.
topics: games
glosses: Originally in chess and now in other games as well: to take back or undo (a move); specifically (card games) to take back or withdraw (a card which has been played).
glosses: To decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word.
examples: text: "Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America." / "What story?" / "Oh, it was rank nonsense about some queer animals he had discovered. I believe he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has suppressed it all. He gave an interview to Reuter's, and there was such a howl that he saw it wouldn't do.["]
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘‘Try Your Luck with Professor Challenger’’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 23:
glosses: Of something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: To change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.
Derived terms: word: retracted
word: retractile
word: retracting
word: retraction
word: retractor
Related terms: word: retractate
word: retractation
word: retractative
word: epanorthosis