retreat

1 (military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat; "the disorderly retreat of French troops"

2 a place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet

3 (military) a signal to begin a withdrawal from a dangerous position

4 (military) a bugle call signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset

5 an area where you can be alone [syn: hideaway]

6 withdrawal for prayer and study and meditation; "a religious retreat" [syn: retirement]

1 pull back or move away or backward; "The enemy withdrew"; "The limo pulled away from the curb" [syn: withdraw, pull away, draw back, recede, pull back, retire, move back]

2 move away, as for privacy; "The Pope retreats to Castelgondolfo every summer"

3 move back; "The glacier retrogrades" [syn: retrograde]

4 make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity; "We'll have to crawfish out from meeting with him"; "He backed out of his earlier promise"; "The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns" [syn: pull back, back out, back away, crawfish, crawfish out, pull in one's horns, withdraw]

English

Etymology

From Middle English retret, from Old French retrait or retret (to draw back), from Latin retrahere (retract).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːt

Noun

1. The act of pulling back or withdrawing, as from something dangerous, or unpleasant.
2. The act of reversing direction and receding from a forward position.
3. A peaceful, quiet place affording privacy, or security.
4. A period of retirement, seclusion, or solitude.
5. A period of meditation, prayer or study
6. Withdrawal by military force from a dangerous position or from enemy attack.
7. A signal for a military withdrawal.
8. A bugle call or drumbeat signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset, as on a military base.
9. A military ceremony to lower the flag.

Translations

See also

• religious retreat

Verb

1. To withdraw military forces.

Translations

• Arabic:
• Chinese: 引退 (yǐntuì)
• Czech: ustoupit
• Dutch: zich terugtrekken
• Finnish: peräytyä
• French: se retirer
• German: sich zurückziehen
• Icelandic: hörfa
• Italian: ritirarsi
• Latin: pedem referre
• Japanese: 退却する (たいきゃくする, taikyaku suru)
• Korean: 후퇴하다 (hutoehada)
• Persian: (aqab nišīnī)
• Portuguese: retirar-se
• Russian: отступать (otstupát’)
• Spanish: retirarse
• Swedish: retirera

Retreat may refer to:

• Retreat (spiritual), a religious or spiritual term for time taken to reflect or meditate
• Retreat (military), a withdrawal of military forces
• Retreat (survivalism), a place of refuge for those in the Survivalist subculture or movement
• Bugle call, a military signal for the end of day
• The Retreat, a private mental hospital in York, England, founded in 1796
• Retreat, Western Cape, a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa, a few kilometres north of Muizenberg
• Retreat, Indiana, a small town in the United States
• Retreat, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in the United States
• Retreat, County Antrim, a small village in Northern Ireland

In music

Songs named "Retreat" include:

• Retreat (Cries My Heart), a 1952 song by Nancy Farnsworth, Tommy Furtado, and Anita Boyer
• Retreat (2005 song), a song by The Rakes

Jim Crow, abandon, abandonment, abscond, adytum, alcove, almshouse, apartheid, apartness, arbor, ascend, ashram, asylum, avoid, avoidance, back, back down, back out, balance, bank, beat a retreat, blench, blink, bolt-hole, bow out, bower, bowl, cabinet, cache, cant, capitulation, careen, catabasis, cell, cession, climb, climb down, cloister, closet, collapse, concealment, conservatory, corner, cover, covert, coverture, cranny, crash, cringe, cubby, cubbyhole, cup, dark corner, debate, decamp, decampment, deceleration, declension, decline, decline and fall, decrescendo, deliberate, demur, den, depart, departure, descend, detachment, die away, diminish, diminuendo, dip, disappear, disengage, disengagement, dish, dive, dodge, downtrend, downturn, draw back, draw off, drift away, drop, duck, dugout, dwindle, dwindling, ebb, egress, escape, evacuate, evacuation, evade, evasion, exit, exodus, fade, fade away, fall, fall away, fall back, fall off, fallback, falter, fear, flee, flight, flinch, fly, foster home, foxhole, funk hole, gazebo, getaway, give, give back, give ground, give place, giving in, giving over, giving up, glasshouse, go, go away, go back, go downhill, go uphill, going, grade, greenhouse, halfway house, hang back, harbor, harborage, haven, hegira, hem and haw, hermitage, hesitate, hideaway, hideout, hidey hole, hiding, hiding place, hole, hollow, holy of holies, home, hospice, hospitium, hover, hum and haw, incline, incurve, isolation, isolationism, ivory tower, jib, keel, kiosk, lair, lapse, lathhouse, lean, leave, leaving, list, lose ground, mew, move away, move back, move off, niche, nook, nursing home, orphanage, parting, passing, pause, pergola, pitch, plunge, ponder, poor farm, poorhouse, port, privacy, privatism, privatization, pull away, pull back, pull out, pullback, pullout, quail, quarantine, quit, rake, recede, recedence, receding, recess, recession, reclusion, recoil, reculade, reel back, refuge, relinquishment, remission, removal, remove, renunciation, resort, rest home, retire, retirement, retract, retractation, retractility, retraction, retrocede, retrocedence, retrograde, rise, run away, run back, rustication, sanctuary, sanctum, sanctum sanctorum, scruple, seclusion, secrecy, secret place, segregation, separation, sequestration, sheer off, shelter, shelve, shilly-shally, shrink, shrink back, shy, sidestep, sidestepping, sidle, sink, slant, slope, slowdown, slump, solitude, splendid isolation, stand back, stand off, start aside, start back, stash, stick at, stickle, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain at, subsidence, summerhouse, surrender, swag, sway, swerve, take flight, think twice about, tilt, tip, turn aside, turn tail, undercovert, uprise, vacate, vanish, walkout, wane, weasel, weasel out, widen the distance, wince, withdraw, withdrawal, withdrawment, workhouse, yield