Library / English Dictionary

RECEDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become faint or more distant

Example:

the unhappy memories of her childhood receded as she grew older

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "recede" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "recede"):

ebb (fall away or decline)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

receding (a slow or gradual disappearance)

recession (the act of becoming more distant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Retreat

Synonyms:

drop off; fall back; fall behind; recede

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "recede" is one way to...):

regress; retrograde; retrogress (get worse or fall back to a previous condition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

receding (the act of becoming more distant)

recession (the act of ceding back)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Pull back or move away or backward

Example:

The limo pulled away from the curb

Synonyms:

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "recede" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

back away; back out; crawfish; crawfish out; pull back; pull in one's horns; retreat; withdraw (make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "recede"):

fall back (move back and away from)

retreat; retrograde (move back)

back down; back off; back up (move backwards from a certain position)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

advance (move forward, also in the metaphorical sense)

Derivation:

receding (the act of becoming more distant)

Credits

 Context examples: 

So once again I softly kissed her hair as I felt her receding from my clasp.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It burnt on, however, quite steadily, neither receding nor advancing.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Clinical signs include brachycephaly, arachnodactyly, receding mandible and joint laxity at the hands and feet.

(Achard Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Though early gum disease often has no symptoms, the signs can include red, swollen, tender, or bleeding gums; gums receding or pulling away from the teeth; persistent bad breath; pus between gums and teeth, and mouth sores.

(New Link Found between Alzheimer's & Gum Disease Bacteria, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

That was the last he saw of the man in the red sweater, and as Curly and he looked at receding Seattle from the deck of the Narwhal, it was the last he saw of the warm Southland.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As the receding wave swept back with a hoarse roar, it seemed to scoop out deep caves in the beach, as if its purpose were to undermine the earth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With this parting cordial she curtsies off—you listen to the sound of her receding footsteps as long as the last echo can reach you—and when, with fainting spirits, you attempt to fasten your door, you discover, with increased alarm, that it has no lock.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)