RETAIN • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Retain

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/rɪtˈeɪn/ /ritˈeɪn/ Listen

Retain

verb

(past & past part. retained; pres. part. retaining)

Hold back within. "I retain this drug for a long time" , "The dam retains the water"

Allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature. Synonyms: continue, keep, keep on. "She retains a lawyer" , "The family's fortune waned and they could not keep their household staff" , "Our grant has run out and we cannot keep you on" , "We kept the work going as long as we could" , "She retained her composure" , "This garment retains its shape even after many washings"

Secure and keep for possible future use or application. Synonyms: hold, hold back, keep back. "I reserve the right to disagree"

Keep in one's mind.

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Etymology of 'Retain'

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"Retain" Quotes from Famous Books

... works will exist: one in the possession of King George the Nineteenth, one in the Duke of Carrington's collection, and one in the library of the British Museum. Finally, should any good people be concerned to hear that Pagan fictions will so long retain their influence over literature, let them reflect that, as the Bishop of St David's says, in his "Proofs of the Inspiration of the Sibylline Verses," read at the last meeting of the Royal Society of Literature, "at all events, a ...

— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 1 (of 4) - Contibutions to Knight's Quarterly Magazine] • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... that is in good hands; that you may retain." I looked on him with staring and inquiring eyes. He spoke: "May I ask for a trifling memento? Be so good as to sign this note." The following words were on the ...

— Peter Schlemihl • Adelbert von Chamisso

... difficult to retain one's individuality, let alone one's impressions. Moreover some little time had elapsed before he really saw his companions. Not that he was long actually blind,—that is the prerogative of the carnivora, but his career commenced some feet below the surface of ...

— "Wee Tim'rous Beasties" - Studies of Animal life and Character • Douglas English

... salvation depended upon quickly reaching it. Her left hand rested lightly within Knight's arm, half withdrawn, from a sense of shame at claiming him before her old lover, yet unwilling to renounce him; so that her glove merely touched his sleeve. '"Can one be pardoned, and retain the offence?"' ...

— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy

... great stature in this country. One of the largest men I have ever seen appears daily in the garden of the Tuileries, and I am told he is a Frenchman of one of the north-eastern provinces. That part of the kingdom is German rather than French, however, and the population still retain most of the ...

— Recollections of Europe • J. Fenimore Cooper

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