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From Late Middle Englishretracten, retract(“to absorb, draw in”), from Latinretractus(“withdrawn”), the perfectpassiveparticiple of Latinretrahō(“to draw or pull back, withdraw; to bring back; to compel to turn back; to recall; to get back, recover; to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.
Verb
retract (third-person singular simple presentretracts, present participleretracting, simple past and past participleretracted)
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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.
1614, Walter Ralegh , “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:
(group theory) A subgroup of a given group such that there is a surjectiveendomorphism 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: in is a retract of if there exists a surjective homomorphism from to with .
1729, J Woodward, “Preface to the Whole”, in An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England;, tome I, London: F Fayram,; J Senex,; and J. Osborn and T Longman,, →OCLC, part II (A Catalogue of the English Fossils in the Collection of J. Woodward Exhibiting the Fossils that are Extraneous; the Parts of Vegetables, and of Animals, Digg’d Up out of the Bowels of the Earth; in Particular the Shells of Sea-Fishes: As also the Stoney, Mineral, and Metallick Bodies Form’d in Them. Ranged and Disposed in a Classical Method, according to Their Several Kinds and Alliances; with an Historical Account of Each: As Likewise Various Observations, and Reflections.">…]), page 6:
Fill'd with the Satisfaction of their own diſcerning Faculties, they paſs Judgment at firſt ſight; write on, and are above being ever brought to retract it.
I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won’t sue me.
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:
And yet this Pope himſelf, not many years after, retracted this Bull;
She will, and ſhe will not; ſhe grants, denies, / Conſents, retracts, advances, and then flies, / Approving and rejecting in a Breath, / Now proff'ring Mercy, now preſenting Death!
2022 October 26, Cade Metz, Adam Satariano, Chang Che, “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
He has also suggested in a newspaper interview that China could be appeased if it were given partial control of Taiwan. An official in Taipei demanded that he retract his suggestion.
(games) 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).
"Challenger was the man who came with some cock-and-bull story from South America." / "What story?" / "Oh, it was rank nonsense about some queer animals he had discovered. I believe he has retracted since. Anyhow, he has suppressed it all. He gave an interview to Reuter's, and there was such a howl that he saw it wouldn't do.