Library / English Dictionary

RETARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person of subnormal intelligence

Synonyms:

changeling; cretin; half-wit; idiot; imbecile; moron; retard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("retard" is a kind of...):

simple; simpleton (a person lacking intelligence or common sense)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "retard"):

mongoloid (a person suffering from Down syndrome (no longer used technically in this sense, now considered offensive))

Derivation:

retard (slow the growth or development of)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to move more slowly or operate at a slower rate

Example:

This drug will retard your heart rate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

decelerate; slow down (reduce the speed of)

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

deaden (lessen the momentum or velocity of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

retardation (any agent that retards or delays or hinders)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lose velocity; move more slowly

Example:

The car decelerated

Synonyms:

decelerate; retard; slow; slow down; slow up

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

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

slow; slow down; slow up (cause to proceed more slowly)

delay; detain; hold up (cause to be slowed down or delayed)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

retardation (the act of slowing down or falling behind)

retardation (a decrease in rate of change)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Slow the growth or development of

Example:

The brain damage will retard the child's language development

Synonyms:

check; delay; retard

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

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

dampen (check; keep in check (a fire))

delay; detain; stay (stop or halt)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

retard (a person of subnormal intelligence)

retardation (lack of normal development of intellectual capacities)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be delayed

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

retardation (the act of slowing down or falling behind)

retardation (a decrease in rate of change)

retardation (the extent to which something is delayed or held back)

Credits

 Context examples: 

In combination with other antiretroviral drugs, nevirapine reduces HIV viral loads and increases CD4 counts, thereby retarding or preventing the damage to the immune system and reducing the risk of developing AIDS.

(Nevirapine, NCI Thesaurus)

But when society is the name for such hollow gentlemen and ladies, Julia, and when its breeding is professed indifference to everything that can advance or can retard mankind, I think we must have lost ourselves in that same Desert of Sahara, and had better find the way out.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Upon placement into the abdominal cavity, the restricted mouse renal adenocarcinoma cells in the agarose macrobeads produce and release certain growth-retarding factors that inhibit the proliferation of the RENCA cells; Upon diffusion of these growth-slowing factors out of the agarose layers, these substances may inhibit cancer cell proliferation of proliferating tumors.

(Mouse Renal Adenocarcinoma Cell-Encapsulated Agarose-Agarose Macrobeads, NCI Thesaurus)

Summer passed away in these occupations, and my return to Geneva was fixed for the latter end of autumn; but being delayed by several accidents, winter and snow arrived, the roads were deemed impassable, and my journey was retarded until the ensuing spring.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Long-term glucosamine sulfate treatment retards progression of knee osteoarthritis; the mechanism appears to involve glucosamine's role as an essential substrate for glycosaminoglycans and hyaluronic acid, needed for formation of the joint proteoglycan structural matrix.

(Glucosamine Sulfate, NCI Thesaurus)

She had seen enough of her pride, her meanness, and her determined prejudice against herself, to comprehend all the difficulties that must have perplexed the engagement, and retarded the marriage, of Edward and herself, had he been otherwise free;—and she had seen almost enough to be thankful for her OWN sake, that one greater obstacle preserved her from suffering under any other of Mrs. Ferrars's creation, preserved her from all dependence upon her caprice, or any solicitude for her good opinion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

In regional chemotherapy, absorbable gelatin sponge may be used to embolize arteries in the region of a tumor in order to block or retard blood flow; this blockage results in a locally increased concentration of chemotherapeutic agents delivered to the tumor when chemotherapeutic agents are infused into the embolized arterial circulation upstream of the blockage.

(Absorbable Gelatin Sponge, NCI Thesaurus)

Abnormalities are variable from individual to individual and may include mental retardation, retarded growth, flat hypoplastic face with short nose, prominent epicanthic skin folds, small low-set ears with prominent antihelix, fissured and thickened tongue, laxness of joint ligaments, pelvic dysplasia, broad hands and feet, stubby fingers, transverse palmar crease, lenticular opacities and heart disease.

(Down Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

I resolved, therefore, that if my immediate union with my cousin would conduce either to hers or my father’s happiness, my adversary’s designs against my life should not retard it a single hour.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There is a patience of the wild—dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself—that holds motionless for endless hours the spider in its web, the snake in its coils, the panther in its ambuscade; this patience belongs peculiarly to life when it hunts its living food; and it belonged to Buck as he clung to the flank of the herd, retarding its march, irritating the young bulls, worrying the cows with their half-grown calves, and driving the wounded bull mad with helpless rage.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)