retract

Plural: retracts

Verb

Verb Forms: retracted, retracting, retracts

To draw back, withdraw, or take back a statement.
formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
- "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"
pull away from a source of disgust or fear
use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)
pull inward or towards a center
- "The cat retracted his claws"
To pull (something) back or back inside.
To pull (something) back or back inside.
To draw (an extended body part) back into the body.
To avert (one's eyes or a gaze).
To pronounce (a sound, especially a vowel) farther to the back of the vocal tract.
To hold back (something); to restrain.
To draw back; to draw up; to withdraw.
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.
Originally in chess and now in other games as well: to take back or undo (a move); specifically (card games) to take back or withdraw (a card which has been played).
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.

Noun

An act of retracting or withdrawing (a mistake, a statement, etc.); a retraction.
A pulling back, especially (military) of an army or military troops; a pull-back, a retreat; also, a signal for this to be done.
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= operatorname id.
The target of a retraction.
Synonym of retreat (“an act of accidentally injuring a horse's foot by incorrectly nailing it during shoeing”).

Examples

A cat can retract its claws.
After his word was challenged and proven invalid, he had to retract his play.
An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
Muscles retract after amputation.
The bus was stuck at the stop as its wheelchair ramp wouldn’t retract after use.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

abjure, draw back, draw in, forswear, pull back, recant, resile, shrink back, backpedal, disavow, disown, eat one's words, recall, retract, retreat, revoke, swallow, take back, unsay, unspeak, walk back, withcall, withdraw

Antonyms

affirm, confirm, extend, maintain, protrude

Scrabble Score: 9

retract: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
retract: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
retract: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

retract: valid Words With Friends Word