retain
Americanverb (used with object)
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retains,
present (3rd person singular)
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retained,
past participle, past
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retaining
present participle
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to keep possession of.
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to continue to use, practice, etc..
to retain an old custom.
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to continue to hold or have.
to retain a prisoner in custody; a cloth that retains its color.
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to keep in mind; remember.
- Antonyms:
- forget
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to hold in place or position.
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to engage, especially by payment of a preliminary fee.
to retain a lawyer.
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Medicine/Medical. to keep in the body, especially abnormally; fail to eliminate.
I was referred to a specialty clinic and they discovered that I was retaining urine.
verb
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to keep in one's possession
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to be able to hold or contain
soil that retains water
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(of a person) to be able to remember (information, facts, etc) without difficulty
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to hold in position
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to keep for one's future use, as by paying a retainer or nominal charge
to retain one's rooms for the holidays
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law to engage the services of (a barrister) by payment of a preliminary fee
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(in selling races) to buy back a winner that one owns when it is auctioned after the race
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(of racehorse trainers) to pay an advance fee to (a jockey) so as to have prior or exclusive claims upon his services throughout the season
Synonym Usage
See keep.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonretainmentnoun
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retainabilitynoun
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retainablenessnoun
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retainmentnoun
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nonretainableadjective
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retainableadjective
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unretainableadjective
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unretainingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retainsimple
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retainssimple
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have retainedperfect
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has retainedperfect
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am retainingprogressive
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are retainingprogressive
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is retainingprogressive
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have been retainingperfect progressive
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has been retainingperfect progressive
Past
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retainedsimple
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had retainedperfect
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was retainingprogressive
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were retainingprogressive
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had been retainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retain
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English reteinen, from Old French retenir, from Latin retinēre “to hold back, hold fast,” equivalent to re- re- + -tinēre, combining form of tenēre “to hold”
Explanation
Retain means to hold on to or keep. People who can retain a lot of information are often mistaken for geniuses, but really they just have very good memories. To retain is to keep or maintain, whether in mind, possession or a certain condition. If you have a great personal assistant, you'll probably want to retain him for as long as you can. If your body is retaining water you might look a little plump. The verbs restrain and detain sound similar, but they mean to keep something by force.
Vocabulary lists containing retain
The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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Out of My Mind
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List 1
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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:
Now their country, which is lower than sea level, finds itself, in an era of global warming, facing a dilemma: how to retain water while protecting themselves from it?
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
“DCOR is the poster child for why the Coastal Commission must retain its … ability to challenge yet another very bad idea that will increase the risk of a spill off our coast.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Mothers Matter said the situation was putting a strain on its small team and making it difficult to retain staff and volunteers.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
New research led by the University of Liverpool now provides strong evidence that some Mesozoic fossils, including dinosaur bones and teeth, can retain traces of those original organic materials.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
That freedom was won at a hard price and if it requires a hard price to retain it... we are able . . . and quite willing to pay it.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
It also has successfully targeted U.S. bases and retains enough firepower to threaten ships and Gulf energy infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Oakley retains the title of Bishop but has withdrawn from public ministry.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Citi retains its buy rating and target price of 1.13 Singapore dollars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
The transaction includes a "collaboration and technology-sharing agreement" that retains Boeing's access to Wisk technology for current and next-generation commercial and defense aircraft, the press release said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Experiments by Makoto Ogawa of the Kansai Environmental Engineering Center, near Kyoto, Japan, demonstrated that charcoal retains its carbon in the soil for up to fifty thousand years.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The Brewers are the small-market overachievers, who somehow have retained their little-engine-that-could persona despite owning the best regular-season record in baseball last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
Buffett added that it is possible the conglomerate retained some of Combs’s stocks, and it is unclear whether Berkshire ended June with any of those holdings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Flock is cutting the number of days most data is retained, from 30 days to seven and abnormal searches and uses will also automatically be flagged.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
"Expansion and straightening cause water to drain away into the North Sea and Baltic Sea even faster, rather than being retained in the surrounding area."
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
But if you pull it out properly, with your thumb covering the neck, the water is retained within the sphere until you lift your thumb.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
The vegetables should become deeply soft and jammy while retaining a little texture; you are not trying to cook them into a completely smooth paste.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
After commanding the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Washington voluntarily surrendered his military commission to Congress rather than retaining control of the army.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
"For several years the two popes and their supporters fought for control of Rome, with Honorius retaining powerful backing from the Holy Roman Empire and attracting support elsewhere in northern Europe."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
The central bank is expected to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 4.35% while retaining a bias toward further tightening, as inflation remains above target.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Someone would have to keep his wits, and he had assumed automatically that since Fezzik had so few, he would find retaining them not all that difficult.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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.
