RETARD • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Retard

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/rɪtˈɑrd/ /ritˈɑrd/ Listen

verb

Retard v. t. (past & past part. retarded; pres. part. retarding)

1.

To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progress; to render more slow in progress; to impede; to hinder; as, to retard the march of an army; to retard the motion of a ship; opposed to accelerate.

2.

To put off; to postpone; as, to retard the attacks of old age; to retard a rupture between nations.

Synonyms: To impede; hinder; obstruct; detain; delay; procrastinate; postpone; defer.

Retard v. i. To stay back. (Obs.)

noun

Retard n.

1.

Retardation; delay.

2.

A mentally retarded person. (Colloq. and disparaging)

3.

A person who is stupid or inept, especially in social situations. (Colloq. and disparaging)

Retard of the tide, or Age of the tide, the interval between the transit of the moon at which a tide originates and the appearance of the tide itself. It is found, in general, that any particular tide is not principally due to the moon's transit immediately proceeding, but to a transit which has occured some time before, and which is said to correspond to it. The retard of the tide is thus distinguished from the lunitidal interval. See under Retardation.

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Etymology of 'Retard'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Retard" Quotes from Famous Books

... him, as he wandered away from the quiet precincts of Alma Mater and into the crowded noisy campus of life; and even the gregarious and convivial manners prevalent aboard ship failed to divert his attention from the prosecution of scientific researches, or to retard his rapid progress ...

— Vashti - or, Until Death Us Do Part • Augusta J. Evans Wilson

... circumstances combined, afford a promise which can scarcely fail of seeing a death blow inflicted on the culture of sugar by slave-labour, which all the misrepresentations of all the slave holders in the world, with all their clamourous partisans in this country cannot avert, or even long retard." ...

— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921 • Various

... were capable of this mood—let us call it an aspiration—before. I do not deny this, yet doubt it. When people change it is because they are ripe, or ready for change, as are things in nature. One can force or retard nature; but I don't believe much in intervention. With many I doubt whether there is even much opportunity for it. They are capable of only the gradual modification of time and circumstances. Young people are apt to have spasms of enthusiasm, or of self-reproach and ...

— An Original Belle • E. P. Roe

... facts, but it is wonderful how much ignorance can accomplish when accompanied by devotion and persistence." That declaration was applauded. Some people appear to believe that they will arrive safely if they go rapidly enough and far enough, even though they may be going in the wrong direction. Many retard the movement for social hygiene by making statements they do not know to be true, especially in respect to the extent of sexual immorality, the number of prostitutes, and the prevalence of venereal ...

— The Social Emergency - Studies in Sex Hygiene and Morals • Various

... might be tempted to lop away because it threw no light upon the proposition, would be retained by a skilful writer because it added power. You may know the character of a redundancy by this one test: does it divert the attention, or simply retard it? The former is always a loss of power; the latter is sometlmes a gain of power. The art of the writer consists in rejecting all redundancies that do not conduce to clearness. The shortest sentences are not necessarily the clearest. Concision gives energy, but it also adds ...

— The Principles of Success in Literature • George Henry Lewes

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