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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List 1
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Out of My Mind
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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:
“Students who prefer physical textbooks should absolutely retain the option to purchase them, but students who cannot afford a printed book should have another way to access the materials they need to succeed,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
You also retain the potential for future appreciation.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
The spokesman added that featuring one of the world's biggest selling artists would attract and retain recruits at a time when Japanese businesses are competing to hire new workers.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Uganda's traditional kings have no formal political authority, but they retain cultural influence and command significant loyalty in the communities they lead.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
“It seems to me,” he said, “we spend money enough in this house to procure at least one meal a day which a man could eat and retain his self-respect.”
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
Gross margins track the portion of revenue that a company retains after paying for costs associated with making its products.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Other measures the sides have explored include the sales of some cable channels and the creation of a board to ensure that CNN retains editorial independence, people with knowledge of the talks said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
“If we consider philosophically the question whether a person with even serious dementia retains their identity,” he wrote, “the answer is that they do.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
"To see nanoscale structures with standard electron microscopy, we fix and dehydrate the tissues, but freezing them retains their shape -- similar to freezing a grape rather than dehydrating it into a raisin," Watanabe said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
He retains hold of my arm, and as he talks his spine straightens imperceptibly, his chest expands, his voice assumes more and more the sprightliness and jocularity of youth.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Despite the reptile's highly specialized swimming anatomy, its digestive organs appear to have retained a relatively simple arrangement.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Sweden and the United States retained second and third place for the fourth year running, followed by South Korea and Singapore.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
But they retained the power to budget millions of dollars for equipment or bespoke research and development.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
She retained Jones to disconnect the profiles from her business’s page.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
“An echo,” said Dumbledore, “which retained Cedric’s appearance and character. I am guessing other such forms appeared . . . less recent victims of Voldemort’s wand. “An old man,” Harry said, his throat still constricted.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
The agreement is mutually non-exclusive, with each company retaining development and commercial rights and no provisions around royalties, milestones, or revenue- or profit-sharing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Kosin and his family lifted their belongings once they saw the water level was higher than the canal retaining wall, but their ground floor was still left soaked.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
So how is M&S attracting and retaining a younger generation of shoppers in a highly competitive market?
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Some 200 car insurance companies sued the Korean manufacturers, saying they deliberately nixed the safety feature for American-bound cars, while retaining it as standard for the rest of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
The third hit one of Charybdis s retaining bands and shot back at us, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
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.
