Associations to the word «Retract»

Wiktionary

RETRACT, verb. (transitive) To pull back inside.
RETRACT, verb. (ambitransitive) To draw back; to draw up.
RETRACT, verb. (transitive) To take back or withdraw something one has said.
RETRACT, verb. To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.

Dictionary definition

RETRACT, verb. Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure; "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"; "She abjured her beliefs".
RETRACT, verb. Pull away from a source of disgust or fear.
RETRACT, verb. Use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ).
RETRACT, verb. Pull inward or towards a center; "The pilot drew in the landing gear"; "The cat retracted his claws".

Wise words

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
Noam Chomsky