retention

Retention is the act of retaining, that is, holding onto or keeping possession of something, as in Kim noted the plant’s successful retention of water.

Retention is also used to refer to the state of being retained or having the power to retain something, as in The lawyer was outraged by the police’s continued retention of his client.

Retention can also mean that something or someone has the power to retain things, especially a person’s ability to retain information in their memory, as in Weekly testing is done to improve students’ retention of what they have learned.

Example: Justine worked hard to improve the retention of skilled employees at her company.

The first record of retention comes from around 1350. It ultimately comes from the Latin verb retinēre, meaning “to retain.” The verb retain has the same origin.

All of retention’s meanings are commonly used. You’re likely to use this word to talk about how well something is at holding or hanging on to something else. For example, a business’s ability to retain employees or, more importantly, paying customers over time is often a key way to tell if a company is growing or failing.

What are some other forms related to retention?

• nonretention (noun)
• overretention (noun)

What are some synonyms for retention?

• custody
• detention
• memory
• remembrance
• keeping
• holding

What are some words that share a root or word element with retention?

• retain
• retentionist
• retention suture

What are some words that often get used in discussing retention?

• rate
• staff
• customer
• water
• information
• memory

Retention is often used to describe something’s ability to hang on to things like memories or customers.

Was just briefly looking at some Peloton data and their customer retention after two years is among the best in the industry.

— Ben Bajarin (@BenBajarin) September 24, 2020

I just published How Laughter Increases Student’s Learning and Memory Retention https://t.co/kKhSCS8Q5P

— Dennise Heckman M.Ed. (@DenniseHeckman) September 27, 2020

Good toast making is about heat retention and saturated butter melt capacity. And good bread.👍🏽

— stuart murdoch (@nee_massey) May 15, 2020

Which of the following is a synonym of retention?

A. release
B. prevention
C. holding
D. discovery