retrieval

American  

[ri-tree-vuhl] / rɪˈtri vəl /

noun

1. the act of retrieving.

2. the chance of recovery or restoration.

   Sadly, many aboriginal languages have been lost beyond retrieval.

3. Psychology. the act or process of accessing information previously encoded and stored in memory.

   The article explores the use of picture matching tasks to assist in word retrieval in aphasic patients.

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retrieval British  

/ rɪˈtriːvəl /

noun

1. the act or process of retrieving

2. the possibility of recovery, restoration, or rectification (esp in the phrase beyond retrieval )

3. a computer filing operation that recalls records or other data from a file

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Etymology

Origin of retrieval

First recorded in 1635–45; retrieve + -al ²

Explanation

The act of bringing something back is called retrieval. When you throw a tennis ball to Fido and he brings it back to you, that's retrieval. When you lose something and get it back, that's retrieval, whether it's a tote bag you accidentally left at the library or a file you can't find on your computer. In fact, the word retrieval is a common one in computer science, meaning "the act of accessing information." The word comes from the verb retrieve, which was first used in the fifteenth century to describe a hunting dog bringing a dead bird back from a field.

Example Sentences

Marvell’s chips and accelerators should be even more valuable in a world driven by agentic AI, seeing as the technology requires continuous loops of reasoning, tool use, memory retrieval, and task coordination.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

By combining task based experiments with fMRI data, the team found no measurable difference in brain activity between successful episodic and semantic memory retrieval.

From Science Daily • Feb. 3, 2026

Once I’d healed from my retrieval, I asked Graham for a call to properly process our time together.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2025

The team used a specialist retrieval system to access the airbag control module – where a snapshot of electronic data, triggered by the crash, revealed speeds, accelerator position, steering wheel angle and brake pedal application.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

Seema’s hand seemed to shrivel, and she straightened up, giving up on cookie retrieval completely.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon