retrieve
Americanverb (used with object)
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retrieves,
present (3rd person singular)
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retrieved,
past participle, past
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retrieving
present participle
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to recover or regain.
to retrieve the stray ball.
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to bring back to a former and better state; restore.
to retrieve one's fortunes.
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to make amends for.
to retrieve an error.
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to make good; repair.
to retrieve a loss.
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Hunting. (of hunting dogs) to fetch (killed or wounded game).
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to draw back or reel in (a fishing line).
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to rescue; save.
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(in tennis, squash, handball, etc.) to make an in-bounds return of (a shot requiring running with the hand extended).
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Computers. to locate and read (data) from storage, as for display on a monitor.
verb (used without object)
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retrieves,
present (3rd person singular)
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retrieved,
past participle, past
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retrieving
present participle
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Hunting. to retrieve game.
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to retrieve a fishing line.
noun
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an act of retrieving; recovery.
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the possibility of recovery.
verb
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to get or fetch back again; recover
he retrieved his papers from various people's drawers
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to bring back to a more satisfactory state; revive
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to extricate from trouble or danger; rescue or save
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to recover or make newly available (stored information) from a computer system
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(also intr) (of a dog) to find and fetch (shot game)
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tennis squash badminton to return successfully (a shot difficult to reach)
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to recall; remember
noun
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the act of retrieving
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the chance of being retrieved
Synonym Usage
See recover.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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retrievabilitynoun
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nonretrievableadjective
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retrievableadjective
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unretrievableadjective
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unretrievedadjective
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retrievablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retrievesimple
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retrievessimple
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have retrievedperfect
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has retrievedperfect
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am retrievingprogressive
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are retrievingprogressive
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is retrievingprogressive
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have been retrievingperfect progressive
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has been retrievingperfect progressive
Past
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retrievedsimple
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had retrievedperfect
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was retrievingprogressive
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were retrievingprogressive
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had been retrievingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retrieve
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English retreven, from Middle French retroev-, retreuv-, tonic stem of retrouver “to find again,” equivalent to re- re- + trouver “to find”; see trover
Explanation
When you retrieve something, you bring it back. Lots of dogs love to retrieve tennis balls, bringing them back to you over and over again. You might retrieve your cell phone from the car, or the toys a baby throws repeatedly on the floor. You can also retrieve a memory from the recesses of your mind, or struggle to remember someone's name and then suddenly retrieve it. A retriever is a dog that's bred to bring things back — in fact, this is the word's earliest use, from the fifteenth century. The Old French root is retreuver, "find again," from re-, "again," and trouver, "to find."
Vocabulary lists containing retrieve
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Inside Out & Back Again
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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:
During testing, the models are given fictional scenarios and told that a piece of information has been hidden on a different machine, and its objective is to break in and retrieve it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Wan was one of the men who arrived at Simpson’s door in March 2025 and attempted, unsuccessfully, to retrieve the babies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Later, police let them return to their house for half an hour to retrieve their medicine.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Cardiff Rugby academy players stumbled on Christopher's bathtub while carrying out essential maintenance work on the mountain, and helped rangers retrieve it.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Ampai sent the big man, Yai, back into the alley to retrieve their rucksacks.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
Apple needs to “evolve Siri into an agent that understands intent, retrieves context, calls apps and completes workflows,” Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in a note last week.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026
OpenAI, meanwhile, says it has shipped an update for Plus and Pro users that improves how memory finds and retrieves details.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
It is also a gesture of trust; the person holding the mic treats the responsibility as sacred and does not move until Cave retrieves the microphone a few bars later.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
The trend is also alive and well on TikTok, where the popular hashtag “adult ballet” retrieves countless videos of women documenting their progress in the dance form.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2024
“There is water,” he says, and crosses to the other sixth-floor room and does not look at von Rumpel’s body in her bed and retrieves the second bucket.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Of the 10 percent who retrieved their frozen eggs, 34 percent became pregnant, and 29 percent had a live birth.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
They said they had retrieved as many bodies as they could immediately after the attack and were relieved to be able to give others a proper burial.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
On a recent day, Maurice LaFountain, Deep Fission’s senior engineering director, showed off pink-flecked granite retrieved from the company’s first test hole and joked that the billion-year-old rock would make a nice countertop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Police say the following was retrieved from the home, totaling about $2.1 million:
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
In the afternoon, he would prepare the goods, keeping careful tally of what we had found and who had retrieved what.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
"Arthur is one of the best at retrieving balls and staying in the points," said Dimitrov's coach Jamie Delgado.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Some ship owners may be reluctant to let their vessels return to such a volatile region after finally retrieving them, experts say.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
The efforts are fueling anxieties across the banking and asset-management industries, where legions of professionals spend much of their days retrieving and synthesizing information.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
The danger arises when people believe that the model is retrieving truth rather than generating likelihoods.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
Later, as Officer Delinko was retrieving his third thermos of coffee from the squad car, he thought he saw a series of small white flashes at the other end of the property.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
