retain
/ɹɪˈteɪn/ verb B1- Often followed by from: to hold back (someone or something); to check, to prevent, to restrain, to stop.
- To hold back (a pupil) instead of allowing them to advance to the next class or year; to keep back.
- Of a thing: to hold or keep (something) inside it; to contain. · water retained by a dam
- To hold back (tissue or a substance, especially urine) in the body or a body organ.
- To hold (something) secure; to prevent (something) from becoming detached or separated.
- To keep (something) in control or possession; to continue having (something); to keep back.
- To keep (something) in the mind; to recall, to remember.
- To keep (something) in place or use, instead of removing or abolishing it; to preserve.
Plural retain · He/she/it retains · Past retained · Past participle retained · -ing form retaining
Verb forms
- Base form
- retain
- He/she/it
- retains
- Past
- retained
- Past participle
- retained
- -ing form
- retaining
From the library
Darcy, whose pride, she was convinced, would receive a deeper wound from the want of importance in his friend’s connections than from their want of sense; and she was quite decided, at last, that he had been partly governed by this worst kind of pride, and partly by the wish of retaining Mr.
Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived; and by her connivance and aid he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love and to consent to an elopement.
“It ought to be so; it must be so, while he retains the use of his reason.
His affection for her soon sunk into indifference: hers lasted a little longer; and, in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation which her marriage had given her.
Learn retain in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.