retention

American  

[ri-ten-shuhn] / rɪˈtɛn ʃən /

noun

retentions plural

1. the act of retaining.

2. the state of being retained.

3. the power to retain; capacity for retaining.

4. the act or power of remembering things; memory.

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retention British  

/ rɪˈtɛnʃən /

noun

1. the act of retaining or state of being retained

2. the capacity to hold or retain liquid

3. the capacity to remember

4. pathol the abnormal holding within the body of urine, faeces, etc, that are normally excreted

5. commerce a sum of money owed to a contractor but not paid for an agreed period as a safeguard against any faults found in the work carried out

6. (plural) accounting profits earned by a company but not distributed as dividends; retained earnings

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Usage

What is retention? Retention is the act of retaining, that is, holding onto or keeping possession of something, as in Kim noted the plant’s successful retention of water. Retention is also used to refer to the state of being retained or having the power to retain something, as in The lawyer was outraged by the police’s continued retention of his client. Retention can also mean that something or someone has the power to retain things, especially a person’s ability to retain information in their memory, as in Weekly testing is done to improve students’ retention of what they have learned. Example: Justine worked hard to improve the retention of skilled employees at her company.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonretention
  noun
• overretention
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• retentions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of retention

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English retencion, from Latin retentiōn-, stem of retentiō “restraint, withholding,” from retent(us) “held back” (past participle of retinēre “to hold back”; see retain) + -iō -ion

Explanation

You can use retention to mean the ability to keep or hold. If you have extraordinary powers of retention, you remember everything you hear or learn. Are your ankles ever swollen after a long flight? This comes from the lack of movement which can cause the retention of water. The roots of the word, Latin re- "back" and tenere "to hold," say it all. You often use the word in the military or business contexts to talk about keeping soldiers, or employees, from leaving. If you're lucky, they might offer you a retention bonus to prevent you from quitting.

Example Sentences

Retention rates for shoppers spending at least $10,000 annually were above 90%.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 14, 2026

The largest scheme, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, known as furlough, covered 11.7 million jobs between March 2020 and September 2021, at a cost of £70bn.

From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025

Retention of learning capacity into adulthood thus seems to be a beneficial attribute for tool-using species, a key insight into the evolution of chimpanzees as well as humans.

From Science Daily • May 7, 2024

Mead, which was based in the United States until a British company bought it in 2017, termed the strategy A-R-E: Acquisition, Retention, Extension.

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2024

Retention and Exudation Cysts.—Retention cysts develop when the duct of a secreting gland is partly obstructed; the secretion accumulates, and the gland and its duct become distended into a cyst.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Thomson, Alexis