adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of retiring
Explanation
If you are a retiring person, you avoid being at the center of attention. You can often be found in the library and other quiet places, and if someone compliments you, you're likely to blush and change the subject. If you call someone retiring, it isn't necessarily clear whether you mean it as a compliment or something closer to a put-down. Usually, the word is used to describe someone who is shy or modest to a fault. But it can also be used to suggest that someone isn't arrogant, which is usually a good thing. And, of course, retiring can also refer to someone who stepped down from their last job and doesn't intend to work anymore.
Vocabulary lists containing retiring
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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.
Lynas’s statement announcing Lacaze’s departure said she was retiring, but she doesn’t like the word.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
The magic is share repurchases: GM has spent roughly $30 billion retiring 500 million shares over that span.
From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026
Erbach spent decades in the Bay Area and had owned a concert staging company in the United States before retiring to an ex-pat community near Guadalajara.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026
Believe me when I tell you that people will be reading your letter and wondering, “Why on Earth would anyone with $6.5 million be worried about not retiring early?”
From MarketWatch • Jun. 16, 2026
I doubted he was capable of choosing one over the other, even though he talked about retiring one day in Cange so he could be just a “country doctor.”
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
