different between choose vs retract

English

Alternative forms

• chuse (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English chosen, chesen, from Old English ??osan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusan? (“to taste, choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *?éwseti, from *?ews- (“to taste, try”).

Cognate with Scots chose, chese (“to choose”), French choisir (“to choose”), North Frisian kese (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), archaic and partially obsolete German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten (via ‘to charm, allure’ and ‘to enchant’)”), Norwegian kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm, allure, enchant”), Icelandic kjósa (“to choose, vote, elect”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (kiusan, “to test”), Latin gust? (“I taste, sample”), Ancient Greek ???? (geú?, “to feed”), Sanskrit ????? (jó?ati, “to like, enjoy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: cho?oz, IPA^(key): /t??u?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z
• Homophone: chews

Verb

choose (third-person singular simple present chooses, present participle choosing, simple past chose or (nonstandard) choosed, past participle chosen or (nonstandard) choosed or (now colloquial) chose)

1. To pick; to make the choice of; to select.

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

2. To elect.

3. To decide to act in a certain way.

4. To wish; to desire; to prefer.
   • 2016, Justin Deschamps:

   • The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Conjugation

Related terms

• choice
• choosey
• chosen

Translations

Conjunction

choose

1. (mathematics) The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.

   The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is ${\displaystyle {\tbinom {n}{k}}}$ or "n choose k".

See also

• Binomial coefficient on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, from chosen (“to choose”). Cognate with Scots chose (“choosing, choice, selection”).

Noun

choose (plural chooses)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) The act of choosing; selection.
2. (dialectal or obsolete) The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
3. (dialectal or obsolete) Scope for choice.

References

• choose in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• choose in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• Cohoes, cohoes, ooches

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.