Retrieve Meaning
/ɹɪˈtɹiːv/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo regain or get back something.
verbTo rescue (a creature).
Sentence Examples
The secretary went to the storage room to retrieve the file.
I can't retrieve the paper.
She bent to retrieve her comb from the floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dog can ____ the stick from the water whenever I throw it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dog was trained to ____ the ball and bring it back to its owner without damaging it.
Word Origin & History
Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"With late repentance now they would retrieve / The bodies they forsook, and wish to live."
— 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"to retrieve them from their cold, trivial conceits"
— 1714, Rev. Dean Berkeley, letter to Alexander Pope, May 1, 1714:
"Accept my sorrow, and retrieve my fall."
— 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
"There is much to be done […] and much to be retrieved."
— 1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]:
"Secondly, the number of retrieves given in any one session is restricted according to the dog's level of interest. If he is not madly keen he has perhaps two or three retrieves in a session, and on some days he will have none at all."
— 2013, Margaret Allen, In the Bag!: Labrador Training from Puppy to Gundog:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dog can ____ the stick from the water whenever I throw it.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dog was trained to ____ the ball and bring it back to its owner without damaging it.