Retract

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɹækt/

Definitions

1. To pull back or withdraw something that was previously extended, stated, or offered
2. To withdraw or pull back something that was previously presented, stated, or put forth while also annulling or reversing a prior commitment or affirmation
3. To move something backward from a previous position ; to formally cancel or withdraw something that was said or offered

Etymology: The verb "retract" carries two Latin ancestors that drifted apart. The first is "retrahere," meaning to drag back or pull back, a physical motion that English took up in the Late Middle Ages through "retracten," meaning to draw in or absorb. The second is "retractare," a more mental verb meaning to reconsider, revoke, or take back what one had said. Both descend from "re-" ("again") plus a verb of pulling, and the Latin frequentative "tractare" adds a sense of repeated handling, as in working something over again. The sense of revoking a statement arrived in English through Middle French "rétracter," which meant to annul or reconsider. So the modern meaning of withdrawing a claim or promise owes more to the French-speaking legal and scholarly world than to the physical pulling sense. The noun "retract" is a separate line, drawn from the Late Latin "retractus" for a pulling back or retreat, and it sits alongside "retreat" as a doublet, two English words from one Latin source.

Synonyms: withdraw, take back, recall, rescind, revoke

Antonyms: affirm, confirm, assert, maintain, uphold