retreat
pronunciation
How to pronounce retreat in British English:
UK [rɪˈtriːt]
How to pronounce retreat in American English:
US [rɪˈtriːt]
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- Noun:
- (military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
- a place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet
- (military) a signal to begin a withdrawal from a dangerous position
- (military) a bugle call signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset
- an area where you can be alone
- withdrawal for prayer and study and meditation
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- Verb:
- pull back or move away or backward
- move away, as for privacy
- move back
- make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity
Word Origin
- retreat
- retreat: [14] Retreat and retract [15] are ultimately the same word. Both go back to Latin retrahere ‘draw back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and trahere ‘draw, pull’ (source of English tractor). This passed into Old French as retraire, and its past participle retrait came to be used as a noun meaning ‘withdrawal’ – whence English retreat. Meanwhile the past participle of retrahere, retractus, had been used as the basis of a new Latin verb, retractāre, which passed into English via Old French retracter as retract.=> contract, distract, retract, tractor
- retreat (n.)
- c. 1300, "a step backward;" late 14c., "act of retiring or withdrawing; military signal for retiring from action or exercise," from Old French retret, noun use of past participle of retrere "draw back," from Latin retrahere "draw back, withdraw, call back," from re- "back" (see re-) + trahere "to draw" (see tract (n.1)). Meaning "place of seclusion" is from early 15c.; sense of "establishment for mentally ill persons" is from 1797. Meaning "period of retirement for religious self-examination" is from 1756.
- retreat (v.)
- early 15c., "to draw in, draw back, leave the extremities," from retreat (n.) and in part from Old French retret, past participle of retrere. Meaning "to fall back from battle" is mid-15c. Related: Retreated; retreating.
Example
- 1. But the enemy is at last on the retreat .
- 2. Nonetheless a wholesale global retreat to protectionism did not ensue .
- 3. If I retreat more to my side , she immediately shifts up .
- 4. Sarah palin once urged her supporters not to retreat but to reload .
- 5. State-owned capital must be forced to retreat from competitive industries .