Library / English Dictionary

RETREAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of withdrawing or going backward (especially to escape something hazardous or unpleasant)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

withdrawal (the act of withdrawing)

Antonym:

advance (the act of moving forward (as toward a goal))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Withdrawal for prayer and study and meditation

Example:

the religious retreat is a form of vacation activity

Synonyms:

retirement; retreat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

withdrawal (the act of withdrawing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat

Example:

the disorderly retreat of French troops

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

withdrawal (the act of withdrawing)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "retreat"):

disengagement; fallback; pullout (to break off a military action with an enemy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An area where you can be alone

Synonyms:

hideaway; retreat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

area (a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function)

Derivation:

retreat (move away, as for privacy)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(military) a bugle call signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

bugle call (a signal broadcast by the sound of a bugle)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(military) a signal to begin a withdrawal from a dangerous position

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

sign; signal; signaling (any nonverbal action or gesture that encodes a message)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("retreat" is a kind of...):

area; country (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "retreat"):

ashram ((India) a place of religious retreat for Hindus)

ashram (a place of religious retreat modeled after the Indian ashram)

nook (a sheltered and secluded place)

nest (a cosy or secluded retreat)

pleasance (a pleasant and secluded part of a garden; usually attached to a mansion)

sanctum; sanctum sanctorum (a place of inviolable privacy)

Instance hyponyms:

Camp David (a retreat to the northwest of Washington that is used by the president of the United States)

Derivation:

retreat (move away, as for privacy)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity

Example:

The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns

Synonyms:

back away; back out; crawfish; crawfish out; pull back; pull in one's horns; retreat; withdraw

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Verb group:

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw (pull back or move away or backward)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pull back or move away or backward

Example:

The limo pulled away from the curb

Synonyms:

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "retreat" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

back away; back out; crawfish; crawfish out; pull back; pull in one's horns; retreat; withdraw (make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "retreat"):

fall back (move back and away from)

retreat; retrograde (move back)

back down; back off; back up (move backwards from a certain position)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move back

Example:

The glacier retrogrades

Synonyms:

retreat; retrograde

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "retreat" is one way to...):

draw back; move back; pull away; pull back; recede; retire; retreat; withdraw (pull back or move away or backward)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Move away, as for privacy

Example:

The Pope retreats to Castelgondolfo every summer

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "retreat" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "retreat"):

cocoon (retreat as if into a cocoon, as from an unfriendly environment)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

retreat (an area where you can be alone)

retreat (a place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Might we not even now make a retreat?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And it retreated up the stairs?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But once as I looked through my window, I saw two Italians watching the house, and I understood that in some way Gorgiano had found our retreat.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sun rose; I heard the voices of men and knew that it was impossible to return to my retreat during that day.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The Sahara expands as the Sahel retreats, disrupting the region's fragile savanna ecosystems and human societies.

(New study finds world’s largest desert, the Sahara, has grown by 10 percent since 1920, National Science Foundation)

However, once the buried ice becomes exposed to Mars' atmosphere, a scarp likely grows wider and taller as it "retreats," due to sublimation of the ice directly from solid form into water vapor.

(Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice, NASA)

This process slows down the retreat of the ice sheet and ultimately the amount of melting.

(Antarctica's Effect on Sea Level Rise in Coming Centuries, NASA)

EXAMPLE(S): The subject is not being followed and will not be retreated.

(Performed Study Subject Milestone Off Study Date, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

I did not wait to be ordered back to mine, but retreated unnoticed, as unnoticed I had left it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

So terrific was the uproar that several ladies had already beaten a hurried retreat.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)