retarded
Americanverb
adjective
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Older Use: Usually Offensive. characterized by a slowness or limitation in intellectual understanding and awareness, emotional development, academic progress, etc.
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Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. stupid or foolish.
noun
adjective
Sensitive Note
In reference to low intellectual ability, the terms retarded, retardation, and mental retardation are now usually perceived as insulting and have largely been replaced by other terms. There are several acceptable alternatives. In general, someone with a mental, physical, or emotional disability may be described as developmentally disabled, or as a person with a developmental disability. If it is specifically a mental disability, the person may be described as cognitively impaired or intellectually disabled. Such a person may be referred to as an individual with a cognitive impairment or a person with an intellectual disability. The slang term retard is a term of abuse used especially by children, though much less commonly than in the past. In both of its meanings, retard is perceived as insulting to disabled people. See also cripple.
Other Word Forms
- nonretarded adjective
- unretarded adjective
Etymology
Origin of retarded
Explanation
Retarded is a word to describe someone who is mentally slow. This is a medical word that spread to slang, and is today considered very insulting and inappropriate. Some uses of retarded are harmless, like if you said wearing a backpack retarded or slowed down your progress on a hike. However, if you use retarded to mean stupid, you're on dangerous ground. Out of respect for people who have clinical mental retardation, this is considered an offensive term to throw around.
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.
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
In 2002, Justice Stevens wrote the majority opinion in a 6 to 3 decision that banned the death penalty for the mentally retarded.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 16, 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
Even exposures to less than lethal quantities may in the end cause death of the larvae, for inevitably the growth rate is retarded.
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.
