retain
Americanverb (used with object)
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retains,
present (3rd person singular)
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retained,
past participle, past
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retaining
present participle
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to keep possession of.
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to continue to use, practice, etc..
to retain an old custom.
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to continue to hold or have.
to retain a prisoner in custody; a cloth that retains its color.
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to keep in mind; remember.
- Antonyms:
- forget
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to hold in place or position.
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to engage, especially by payment of a preliminary fee.
to retain a lawyer.
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Medicine/Medical. to keep in the body, especially abnormally; fail to eliminate.
I was referred to a specialty clinic and they discovered that I was retaining urine.
verb
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to keep in one's possession
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to be able to hold or contain
soil that retains water
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(of a person) to be able to remember (information, facts, etc) without difficulty
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to hold in position
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to keep for one's future use, as by paying a retainer or nominal charge
to retain one's rooms for the holidays
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law to engage the services of (a barrister) by payment of a preliminary fee
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(in selling races) to buy back a winner that one owns when it is auctioned after the race
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(of racehorse trainers) to pay an advance fee to (a jockey) so as to have prior or exclusive claims upon his services throughout the season
Synonym Usage
See keep.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonretainmentnoun
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retainabilitynoun
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retainablenessnoun
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retainmentnoun
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nonretainableadjective
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retainableadjective
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unretainableadjective
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unretainingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retainsimple
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retainssimple
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have retainedperfect
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has retainedperfect
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am retainingprogressive
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are retainingprogressive
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is retainingprogressive
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have been retainingperfect progressive
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has been retainingperfect progressive
Past
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retainedsimple
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had retainedperfect
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was retainingprogressive
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were retainingprogressive
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had been retainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retain
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English reteinen, from Old French retenir, from Latin retinēre “to hold back, hold fast,” equivalent to re- re- + -tinēre, combining form of tenēre “to hold”
Explanation
Retain means to hold on to or keep. People who can retain a lot of information are often mistaken for geniuses, but really they just have very good memories. To retain is to keep or maintain, whether in mind, possession or a certain condition. If you have a great personal assistant, you'll probably want to retain him for as long as you can. If your body is retaining water you might look a little plump. The verbs restrain and detain sound similar, but they mean to keep something by force.
Vocabulary lists containing retain
The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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Out of My Mind
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List 1
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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:
Card-game makers have also put more focus on releasing rare and limited-edition cards, helping retain the interest of collectors and driving card prices higher on the secondary market.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Existing shareholder Hansjorg Wyss will retain his minority holding as part of the deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
At such locations, fossils may retain not only bones and other hard tissues, but also delicate soft structures that are usually lost during fossilization.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with a view to presenting the production in 2028.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Their first response was, “Mandela, why don’t you retain a lawyer to defend you? He will be able to handle the case properly. Why put yourself out?”
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"To see nanoscale structures with standard electron microscopy, we fix and dehydrate the tissues, but freezing them retains their shape -- similar to freezing a grape rather than dehydrating it into a raisin," Watanabe said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
Captain Ben Davies retains his place having been named in the squad for the summer games without featuring.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The bill at least retains the program’s structure of rewarding additional work as it starts paying out benefits, known as a “phase in.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
It’s typically less processed, with larger, irregular grains, and retains other minerals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
During digestion, a body only retains the elements that are useful to it.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Eleven bars were retained as part of the sale while 38 other pubs closed immediately.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
At least we can confirm he has retained some motor skills, and it’s possible he couldn’t hear the press yelling at him or just decided to ignore them.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
Its experts retained the acceptable daily intake of 15 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day and found that estimated dietary exposure remained below that level across the population groups assessed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
That has the potential to push future projects to states such as Indiana, West Virginia and Wyoming that have retained favorable tax regimes, industry executives and advisers say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Their different treads, as if even as spirits they retained their personalities, Patria’s sure and measured step, Minerva’s quicksilver impatience, Mate’s playful little skip.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Portsmouth Water and Bristol Water were the only companies to score "good" in both metrics, retaining their position at the top of the rankings as the sector's best performers.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Some 200 car insurance companies sued the Korean manufacturers, saying they deliberately nixed the safety feature for American-bound cars, while retaining it as standard for the rest of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Instead, some people may experience pronounced signs of aging while also retaining biological traits that help protect against many of its harmful consequences.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
The RBA has permitted this to some extent, saying that it also wanted to focus on retaining as many jobs as it could through the inflation surge that followed the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
My teachers broke it down for her more than once: “Wes is a nice boy, but he has real problems retaining information.”
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
