adjective
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having given up one's work, office, etc, esp on completion of the normal period of service
a retired headmistress
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( as collective noun ; preceded by the )
the retired
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withdrawn; secluded
a retired life
a retired cottage in the woods
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of retired
Explanation
Someone who's retired has stopped working permanently. A retired teacher who misses his job might volunteer at an after-school program. Most retired people in the U.S. are over the age of 65, although some are able to retire earlier, and some continue working well into their 70s or 80s. Some jobs provide pensions, or partial salaries, to retired workers, and other retired people take advantage of government-provided benefits like Social Security. To retire means "to stop working," but also "to retreat or withdraw," and in the 1500s, retired meant "separated or withdrawn from society."
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.
But among those who had actually retired, 82% said they had enough.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
This year, eight of the clients of Merrill Lynch financial adviser April Tardiff retired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The "constant delay and aimless stumbling" around the project had made any planned recovery even more "painful, slow and difficult", as the town's experienced salt workers were now long retired or dead, he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
Our reader Stephen Thom said: "Fish needs to be in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame. Now he's officially retired from music maybe the first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award?"
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
By the time I retired in 1986, after thirty-three years at Langley, I had authored or coauthored twenty-six research reports and tutored countless students.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
