retirement
Americannoun
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retirements
plural
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the act of retiring or of leaving one's job, career, or occupation permanently, usually because of age.
I'm looking forward to my retirement from teaching.
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the portion of a person's life during which a person is retired.
What will you do in retirement?
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a pension or other income on which a retired person lives.
His retirement is barely enough to pay the rent.
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the act of retiring, withdrawing, or leaving; the state of being retired.
After a competitive day on the golf course, she enjoys a quiet retirement to the residents' lounge.
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removal of something from service or use.
retirement of the space shuttle fleet.
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withdrawal of a jury from a courtroom to deliberate in private on a verdict.
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orderly withdrawal of a military force, according to plan, without pressure from the enemy.
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withdrawal of securities from the market by a corporation, as through payment at maturity, repurchase, or exchange.
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withdrawal into privacy or seclusion.
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privacy or seclusion.
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a private or secluded place.
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Baseball, Cricket. the act or instance of the defense putting out or ending the offensive play of a batter, runner, side, etc.
The retirement of the Brewers in the third inning came only after they scored six more runs.
adjective
noun
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the act of retiring from one's work, office, etc
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( as modifier )
retirement age
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the period of being retired from work
she had many plans for her retirement
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seclusion from the world; privacy
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the act of going away or retreating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of retirement
First recorded in 1530–40; retire + -ment ( def. )
Explanation
Retirement is when someone stops working, usually after many years, to take a break or start a new occupation. In order to consider retirement, a worker must usually have saved enough money to stop working. This most commonly happens after years at a job, and retirement is often a cause of celebration. Sometimes, as in "early retirement," a much younger person is able to stop working for pay — in some cases, because she's become wealthy from a business venture. The Middle French root word is retirer, "to withdraw."
Vocabulary lists containing retirement
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 5
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for November 13–November 19, 2021
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 16
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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.
See Examples For:
Don’t miss: We thought we found the perfect luxury retirement community, but it’s millions of dollars in debt.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
My husband and I don’t depend on this inheritance for our retirement.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
She was long-time CFO of Home Depot before retiring in 2019 and then emerging from retirement a year later to take UPS’s top job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Mark Iwry, a former senior Treasury official who led national retirement policy in the Clinton and Obama administrations, said auto-enrollment marks a major improvement but that stock donations raise potential concerns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
And I thought I might postpone my retirement to Texas because of my concern for that child, and search for Dr. Grumman.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
The research comes as people are living longer, with retirements that can last decades, making it important to have structure and social interaction in that stage of life.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Wow — not only are you planning to give money to your grandkids, but you are planning for their retirements and their children, too?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Their job is to invest assets to secure teachers’ retirements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
New recruits have yet to offset retirements, and courts across the state remain critically understaffed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
In the retirements of domestic life, he is found in the anxious discharge of the high responsibilities which arise out of its relations.
From The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings by John Abercrombie
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.
