retract

English

Etymology

From Middle English retracten, borrowed from Old French retracter, from Late Latin rētractō (“I undertake again; I withdraw, refuse, decline; I retract”), from Latin retractus (“withdrawn”), perfect passive participle of retrahō (“I draw or pull back, withdraw; I call back, remove”). Doublet of retreat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈtɹækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

• Audio (UK)

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Verb

retract (third-person singular simple present retracts, present participle retracting, simple past and past participle retracted)

1. (transitive) To pull back inside.

   An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.

   The wheelchair ramp on the bus wouldn't retract after use, it required persuasion by hand before the bus could move.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To draw back; to draw up.

   Muscles retract after amputation.

   A cat can retract its claws.

3. (transitive) To take back or withdraw something one has said.

   I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won't sue me.

   • Bishop Stillingfleet

     I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it.

   • Granville

     She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, / Consents, retracts, advances, and then flies.

4. To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Woodward to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to take back or withdraw something one has said): take back, withcall, withdraw; See also Thesaurus:recant

Related terms

• retreat

Translations

to pull back inside

• Czech: vtáhnout, zatáhnout
• Finnish: vetää sisään
• Greek: συμπτύσσω (el) (symptýsso)
• Maori: whakakopa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: retrair (pt)
• Romanian: retrage (ro), retracta (ro)
• Russian: втягивать (ru) (vtjagivatʹ), вбира́ть (ru) (vbirátʹ)
• Spanish: retraer (es)

to draw back; to draw up

• French: rétracter (fr)
• Latin: retrahō
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: retrair (pt)
• Spanish: retraer (es)

to take back or withdraw something one has said

• Czech: vzít zpět, odvolat
• Finnish: vetää pois
• French: rétracter (fr)
• Greek: ανακαλώ (el) (anakaló)
• Hungarian: visszavon (hu)
• Italian: ritrattare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: kairua
• Portuguese: retrair (pt), retirar (pt)
• Romanian: retracta (ro), dezice (ro)
• Spanish: retractar (es)
• Swedish: ta tillbaka

See also

• unsay
• unspeak

References

• “retract”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.