retract

Fetched 2026-10-30 (live).

Synonyms: retrace, detract, refract, retraict, retrait, retroact, tetract, retrack

Antonyms: retrace, detract, refract, retraict, retrait, retroact, tetract, retrack

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Verb

1. To pull (something) back or back inside.
   • An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
   • A cat can retract its claws.
2. To pull (something) back or back inside.
   • An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
   • A cat can retract its claws.
3. To draw (an extended body part) back into the body.
   • A cat can retract its claws.
4. To avert (one's eyes or a gaze).
5. To pronounce (a sound, especially a vowel) farther to the back of the vocal tract.
6. To hold back (something); to restrain.
7. To draw back; to draw up; to withdraw.
   • The bus was stuck at the stop as its wheelchair ramp wouldn’t retract after use.
   • Muscles retract after amputation.

Noun

1. An act of retracting or withdrawing (a mistake, a statement, etc.); a retraction.
2. A pulling back, especially of an army or military troops; a pull-back, a retreat; also, a signal for this to be done.
3. A subgroup of a given group such that there is a surjective endomorphism from the ambient group to the subgroup which is constant on the subgroup; in this case the subgroup is a retract of the ambient group. In symbols: H in G is a retract of G if there exists a surjective homomorphism σ from G to H with σ|H=id.
4. The target of a retraction.
5. Synonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly nailing it during shoeing”).

Verb

1. To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously bestowed); to rescind, to revoke. To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege. To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written); to disavow, to repudiate.
   • I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
2. To cancel or take back (something, such as an edict or a favour or grant previously bestowed); to rescind, to revoke.
3. To break or fail to keep (a promise, etc.); to renege.
4. To take back or withdraw (something that has been said or written); to disavow, to repudiate.
   • I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
5. Originally in chess and now in other games as well: to take back or undo (a move); specifically to take back or withdraw (a card which has been played).
6. To decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word. Of something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw. To change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.
7. To decline or fail to do something promised; to break one's word.
8. Of something said or written (such as published academic work): to take back or withdraw.
9. To change one's mind after declaring an intention to make a certain move.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.