different between acquire vs retract

English

Etymology

From Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquir?; ad- + quaer? (“to seek for”). See quest.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??kwa???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??kwa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Hyphenation: ac?quire

Verb

acquire (third-person singular simple present acquires, present participle acquiring, simple past and past participle acquired)

1. (transitive) To get.
2. (transitive) To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Consideration of our Latter End (sermon)

     No virtue is acquired in an instant, but by degrees, step by step.

   • Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.
3. (medicine) To contract.
4. (computing) To sample signals and convert them into digital values.

Synonyms

• (get, gain): attain, come by, earn, gain, obtain, procure, secure, win

Antonyms

• (get, gain): abandon, lose

Derived terms

• acquired taste

Related terms

• acquisition
• acquirement
• acquisitive
• acquisitory

See also

• obtain
• reach

Translations

Latin

Verb

acqu?re

1. second-person singular present active imperative of acqu?r?

English

Etymology

From Middle English retracten, from Old French retracter, from Late Latin r?tract? (“I undertake again; I withdraw, refuse, decline; I retract”), from Latin retractus (“withdrawn”), perfect passive participle of retrah? (“I draw or pull back, withdraw; I call back, remove”). Doublet of retreat.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /???t?ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Verb

retract (third-person singular simple present retracts, present participle retracting, simple past and past participle retracted)

1. (transitive) To pull back inside.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To draw back; to draw up.
3. (transitive) To take back or withdraw something one has said.
   • 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church

     I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it.

   • 1726, George Granville, The British Enchanters

     She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, / Consents, retracts, advances, and then flies.

4. (transitive, intransitive, academia) To officially withdraw or revoke published academic work.
5. To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.
   • 1728, John Woodward, An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England

     Filld with the Satisfaction of their own discerning , Faculties , they pass Judgment at first sight ; write on , and are above being ever brought to retract it

Synonyms

• (to take back or withdraw something one has said): take back, withcall, withdraw; See also Thesaurus:recant

Related terms

• retreat

Translations

See also

• epanorthosis (rhetoric)
• unsay
• unspeak

References

• “retract”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.