retard
Americanverb (used with object)
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retards,
present (3rd person singular)
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retarded,
past participle, past
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retarding
present participle
verb (used without object)
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retards,
present (3rd person singular)
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retarded,
past participle, past
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retarding
present participle
noun
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retards
plural
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a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
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Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
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a contemptuous term used to refer to a person who is cognitively impaired.
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a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way.
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Automotive, Machinery. an adjustment made in the setting of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine so that the spark for ignition in each cylinder is generated later in the cycle.
verb
noun
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offensive a retarded person
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offensive a foolish person
Sensitive Note
See retarded.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retardsimple
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retardssimple
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have retardedperfect
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has retardedperfect
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am retardingprogressive
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are retardingprogressive
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is retardingprogressive
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have been retardingperfect progressive
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has been retardingperfect progressive
Past
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retardedsimple
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had retardedperfect
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was retardingprogressive
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were retardingprogressive
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had been retardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retard
First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin retardāre to delay, protract, equivalent to re- re- + tardāre “to loiter, be slow,” derivative of tardus “slow”; see tardy
Explanation
To retard something is to slow it down. A lack of fresh fruit and vegetables can retard the growth of a young child. This word should be used with a lot of caution. Using this word to describe a person is considered offensive and should be avoided. It is often a harmless word when used as a verb. While skiing, a heavy, bulky jacket could retard your progress down the mountain. Keeping a plant out of sunlight would retard its growth.
Vocabulary lists containing retard
Flora and Ulysses
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I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A case in point is a bill on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk that would retard artificial intelligence in the name of protecting public safety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
The giant trees resist burning thanks to the bark, up to about 30 centimeters thick at the base, which contains tannic acids that retard flames.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 1, 2023
"Going forward, we'll be able to do tests on mice to see if new molecules that stabilise mitochondrial and autophagic function can retard the disease."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2023
“Although you may retard an ignition or a fire spread for this season, what you’ve done is grown a lot more biomass to burn in the next year,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
Researchers said that when parents talk to their children less, engage less—in a nutshell, put their attention to the television not the children—it can eventually retard language development.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
If the levels of solutes increase beyond a certain range, a hormone is released that retards water loss through the kidney and dilutes the blood to safer levels.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Prior Vital Dufour, who was ordained Cardinal of the Catholic church by Pope Clement in 1313, once listed 40 of the virtues of Armagnac including: "It renders man joyous, preserves youth and retards senility."
From BBC ● May 28, 2022
Earlier, Holder posted a tweet that simply stated the law regarding the fines and imprisonment of up to six months that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2020
Lack of electricity impacts public health — try running a modern hospital without any power — and retards economic growth.
From Time ● Jul. 26, 2011
The journeyman, for instance, voluntarily retards his marriage until he has become a master workman, and once he has attained that degree, he "works the golden mine of his trade."
From Principles of Political Economy, Vol. II by Wilhelm Roscher
Based on some of the results, the team thinks microbes retarded the growth of inbreds, rather than giving the hybrids a special boost.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 29, 2021
Supreme Court ruled that states may not execute “mentally retarded offenders.”
From Slate ● May 22, 2020
Some users took note of Rosa’s Law, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, which replaced the phrase “mentally retarded individual” in federal statues with “individual with an intellectual disability.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2019
But millennials’ progress through life has been measurably retarded by the Great Recession, a two-track labor market in which many high-paying jobs require a college education and record levels of student debt.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2019
That at least was the point of view of Colonel Aureliano Buendía, for whom Remedios the Beauty was in no way mentally retarded, as was generally believed, but quite the opposite.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Their opposition to transportation projects and other infrastructure, though supposedly grounded in Jeffersonian principle, was a roundabout way of retarding industrial development and ensuring that slavery did not become an economic anachronism.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
That drove prices in Europe and Asia to all-time highs earlier this year, fanning inflationary pressure and retarding efforts by countries to switch to gas from coal to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.
From Reuters ● May 27, 2022
A retarding voltage between the collector wire and plate can then be adjusted so as to determine the energy of the ejected electrons.
From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015
It was Rivera, of course, who attracted the most attention, retarding the acknowledgement due to Siqueiros and Orozco.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2013
Some insecticides affect sensitive plants such as beans, wheat, barley, or rye, retarding root development or depressing growth of seedlings.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
