Retract Meaning
/ɹɪˈtɹækt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo pull (something) back or back inside.
verbTo pull (something) back or back inside., To draw (an extended body part) back into the body.
Sentence Examples
I would like to retract my previous statement.
I won't retract that statement.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cat will suddenly ____ its sharp claws when it feels scared.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The newspaper was forced to ____ the story after it emerged that the key source had fabricated the claims.
Word Origin & History
From Late Middle English retracten, retract (“to absorb, draw in”), from Latin retractus (“withdrawn”), the perfect passive participle of Latin retrahō (“to draw or pull back, withdraw; to bring back; to compel to turn back; to recall; to get back, recover; to hold back, restrain, withhold; to remove, take away; to bring to light again; (Late Latin) to delay”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + trahō (“to drag, pull; to extract, withdraw”). Doublet of retreat.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The collector shoes are automatically retracted when the electric handle is moved from "service off" to "lock off"."
— 1962 June, “The Design of the S.R. Electro-diesels”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 393:
"[T]hey began to finde fault with Poeſie, […] ſaying, that metaphors æmigmaticall, and covert words, yea and the ambiguities which Poetry uſeth, were but ſhifts, retracts, and evaſions to hide and cover all, whenſoever the events fell not out accordingly."
— 1603, Plutarch, “Why the Prophetesse Pythia Giveth No Answers Now from the Oracle in Verse or Meeter”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 1199A:
"Theſe Græcians alſo that made the retract, aduiſed Darius [III] to retire his Armie into the plaine of Meſopotamia, to the end that Alexander being entred into thoſe large fields and great Champions, he might haue inuironed the Macedonians on all ſides with his multitude; […]"
— 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of Alexander the Great”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 4th book, §. IIII (Of the Vnwarlike Armie Leauied by Darivs against Alexander. […]), page 179:
"Fill'd with the Satisfaction of their own diſcerning Faculties, they [natural history writers] paſs Judgment at firſt ſight; write on, and are above being ever brought to retract it."
— 1729, J[ohn] Woodward, “Preface to the Whole”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England; […], tome I, London: […] F[rancis] Fayram, […]; J[ohn] Senex, […]; and J. Osborn and T[homas] Longman, […], →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward […]), page 6:
"And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull; […]"
— 1671, Edward Stillingfleet, A Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome, […], 2nd edition, London: […] Robert White for Henry Mortlock […], →OCLC, page 363:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cat will suddenly ____ its sharp claws when it feels scared.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The newspaper was forced to ____ the story after it emerged that the key source had fabricated the claims.