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

Their testimony has described encounters with objects capable of manoeuvres far beyond known human technology, alongside claims of secretive crash retrieval programmes.

From BBC • Jun. 13, 2026

The researchers plan to continue investigating how caffeine influences memory consolidation and memory retrieval.

From Science Daily • May 30, 2026

You can absolutely take a sick day for your egg retrieval in New York.

From MarketWatch • May 11, 2026

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

Perhaps, however, we are linked in circuits for the storage, processing, and retrieval of information, since this appears to be the most basic and universal of all human enterprises.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas