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withdrawn; secluded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
- nonretired adjective
- quasi-retired adjective
- retiredly adverb
- retiredness noun
- self-retired adjective
- semiretired adjective
- unretired adjective
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 To retire means "to stop working," but also "to retreat or withdraw," and in the 1500s, retired meant "separated or withdrawn from society."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.
He could have retired in 2020, but as he wrote in a Facebook post in 2023, “I’m having too much fun.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
The retired tennis star’s new show, “Pretty Tough,” focuses on interviews with powerful women.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
The retired nurse, who lives on Attleboro Lane, claimed vibrations caused by heavy machinery had damaged their property: "It's destroyed our home, I'm embarrassed about home, it's falling apart."
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
“They’re not retired yet, but they’re facing this retirement problem,” Duffy said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026
Once, no doubt, they were heroes, but now they have retired from battlefields and they see things from a different point of view.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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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.