retained

[ri-teynd]

adjective

1. not lost, destroyed, released, sold, or given away; kept.

   The vendor overvalued both the sold 1,790 acres and the retained 566 acres of Green Meadows.

2. kept in use or practice; continued or preserved.

   We are proud of the retained traditions of entrepreneurship of our ancestors, their respectful and careful attitude to land and craft.

3. (of something perceived or learned) remembered or kept in mind.

   They get taught it in basic training, but without constant practice, land navigation is not a retained skill for the average soldier.

4. engaged for service, often by payment of a preliminary fee.

   To apply for this opportunity in confidence, send your resume and remuneration details to the retained consultants, Kirk & Paulson Consulting Ltd., for an initial interview.

5. kept in check or held in place; held back.

   On completion of the dam, the retained water was diverted for irrigation via two canals.

6. Medicine/Medical.,  kept in the body, especially abnormally; not expelled or eliminated.

   Three weeks after delivery I was back in the hospital, seriously ill and having a D&C to remove a retained placenta.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of retain.

Other Word Forms

• unretained adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of retained¹

retain ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Redundancy letters were sent out to staff at the refinery at the beginning of this year, with just 65 of 500 jobs expected to be retained.

Read more on BBC

Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish—retained critical and popular esteem, but most were ignored by middle-class tastemakers or maligned as conduits of cultural degeneration.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Dutch East pioneered dividends, allowing some capital to be retained and recycled.

Read more on Barron's

I hadn’t seen the movie in 37 years when I watched it again before traveling to La Jolla, and I was happy to discover that the movie has retained its freshness.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Caesar retained the coasts,” but Welk won everywhere else, “what Caesar liked to call ‘the Midwest.’”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• maintained www.thesaurus.com
• received 
• saved www.thesaurus.com