Retracted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Drawn back or pulled in from a previous position or state ; a statement or claim that has been formally withdrawn or taken back
2. Moved inward from an extended or projected position ; a previously made assertion that has been renounced or undone
3. Brought back toward an origin or starting point ; a declaration or opinion that has been officially canceled or reversed

Etymology: Retracted is the past tense of "retract", and its story runs through Latin verbs for pulling. The Latin "retrahere" combined "re-" (again, back) with "trahere" (to drag or pull), so its original sense was simply to draw something back. English took the idea in the sense of drawing in or absorbing, a sense that survives in the way a cat retracts its claws or a snail draws back into its shell. The sense of taking back a statement came from a different Latin verb. "Retractare" was built from the same "re-" plus "tractare" (to handle or drag), and it could mean to reconsider, revoke or annul. Middle French "rétracter" carried that legal and intellectual sense of annulling or withdrawing a judgment, and it is from this route that a retracted claim or opinion gets its meaning: something drawn back, as if pulled out of circulation.

Synonyms: withdrawn, rescinded, recalled

Antonyms: asserted, maintained