Library / English Dictionary

RETRACT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure

Example:

She abjured her beliefs

Synonyms:

abjure; forswear; recant; resile; retract

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

disown; renounce; repudiate (cast off)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

retraction (a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pull inward or towards a center

Example:

The cat retracted his claws

Synonyms:

draw in; retract

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

attract; draw; draw in; pull; pull in (direct toward itself or oneself by means of some psychological power or physical attributes)

Verb group:

attract; draw; draw in; pull; pull in (direct toward itself or oneself by means of some psychological power or physical attributes)

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

introvert; invaginate (fold inwards)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

retraction (the act of pulling or holding or drawing a part back)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)

Synonyms:

draw back; pull back; retract

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

pull (apply force so as to cause motion towards the source of the motion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

retractor (surgical instrument that holds back the edges of a surgical incision)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Pull away from a source of disgust or fear

Synonyms:

retract; shrink back

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

cringe; flinch; funk; quail; recoil; shrink; squinch; wince (draw back, as with fear or pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Could Anne have foreseen such a junction, she would have staid at home; but, from some feelings of interest and curiosity, she fancied now that it was too late to retract, and the whole six set forward together in the direction chosen by the Miss Musgroves, who evidently considered the walk as under their guidance.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But that she must and should retract was instantly the eager cry of both the Thorpes; they must go to Clifton tomorrow, they would not go without her, it would be nothing to put off a mere walk for one day longer, and they would not hear of a refusal.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It was by no means her object to have it believed that her sister was not a fine lady; perhaps there was want of spirit in the pretence of it;—and she was considering in what way she had best retract, when Mr. Weston went on.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Setting her own inclination apart, to have failed a second time in her engagement to Miss Tilney, to have retracted a promise voluntarily made only five minutes before, and on a false pretence too, must have been wrong.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A caddy retracted his statement and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)