different between restrict vs retract

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin restrictus, perfect passive participle of restring? (“draw back tightly; restrain, restrict”), from re- (“back, again”) + string? (“press, tighten, compress”). Doublet of ristretto as an adjective.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???st??kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Verb

restrict (third-person singular simple present restricts, present participle restricting, simple past and past participle restricted)

1. To restrain within boundaries; to limit; to confine
2. (specifically, mathematics) To consider (a function) as defined on a subset of its original domain.

   If we restrict sine to ${\displaystyle [-{\frac {\pi }{2}},{\frac {\pi }{2}}]}$, we can define its inverse.

Synonyms

• (to restrain within bounds): limit, bound, circumscribe, withstrain, restrain, repress, curb, coerce

Related terms

• restriction
• restraint
• restrain

Translations

Adjective

restrict (comparative more restrict, superlative most restrict)

1. (obsolete) Restricted.

Anagrams

• critters, stricter

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 (“I undertake again; I withdraw, refuse, decline; I retract”), from Latin retractus (“withdrawn”), perfect passive participle of retrah?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.