Retarders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Devices or substances that slow down or hinder a process or reaction
2. Materials used to reduce the speed of combustion or chemical reactions in various applications
3. Mechanisms that delay motion or progression in mechanical systems or engineering contexts

Etymology: Retarders are devices that slow something down, and the word is built from a Latin verb that meant to hold back. Its core is "retard", borrowed through Anglo-Norman "retarder" and Middle English "retarden" from Latin "retardare", where "re-" (back, again) joins "tardus", meaning slow or late. Engineers later attached the English agent ending "-er" to produce a noun for the thing doing the slowing, so the "-er" marks a device rather than a person. The "-er" ending has its own long path. It descends from a Latin suffix "-arius", which passed through Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-er", and it was already in Old English as "-ere" in words for people who did a job. English then extended it to machines and tools, which is why a retarder can be an object rather than a worker.

Synonyms: delayers, obstructors, impediments, hinders, stoppers