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withdrawn; secluded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 To retire means "to stop working," but also "to retreat or withdraw," and in the 1500s, retired meant "separated or withdrawn from society."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.
Jorge Baeza, retired as a truck driver and has worked for Kodiak since 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
The author is a retired state of California administrator and a California veteran who lives in La Habra Heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Severin added that the retired senior judges and leading barristers, who sat on the Commission, have "spent their careers interpreting complicated facts, dealing with witnesses and applying relevant weight to evidence".
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Now retired, Paulsen publishes a Substack newsletter in which he revived an early warning indicator he’s used successfully as an economic signal in the past: the Walmart Recession Signal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The photographer, a retired Central Intelligence Agency agent named Howard Hunt, sat down to take notes.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
