DictionaryAI

retard

ri-TAHRD/ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/ri-TAHD/ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/

Pluralretards

Verbretards, retarding, retarded

6 meanings of retard

Practice

  1. 1
    USREE-tahrd/ˈɹiˌtɑɹd/UKREE-tahd/ˈɹiːtɑːd/
    idiotnounderogatoryoffensiveslurcolloquialcountable
    An offensive word for a person, or even an animal, regarded as extremely stupid or slow to learn.

    Similardolt, bonehead, birdbrain, bozo, chump

    Note

    The insult casts anyone, or anything, as stupid: in Doug Green's No Wife No Kids No Plan a dog is called one. Because it borrows its force from the disability slur, it demeans people with intellectual disabilities along with its target, and it has no safe use outside quotation.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Doug Green's No Wife No Kids No Plan contains an insult calling a dog a retard. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    hinder progressverbtransitive
    To slow down or hold back the progress, development, or movement of something.

    Cold weather can retard the growth of young plants for weeks.

    Years of civil war retarded the country's economic development.

    UsageThe object is usually a process, retard growth, retard development; slow or hinder is the everyday choice.

    Similarslow, delay, hinder, impede, inhibit

    Oppositeaccelerate, advance, promote, boost

  3. 3
    USREE-tahrd/ˈɹiˌtɑɹd/UKREE-tahd/ˈɹiːtɑːd/
    disabled personnounderogatoryoffensiveslurdatedcountable
    A dated, offensive word for a person with an intellectual disability, what was once called mental retardation.

    UsageSay a person with an intellectual disability; keep this word for quoting or discussing it.

    Note

    A label taken from the old clinical term mental retardation, and now both dated and a slur. Even in its clinical sense it is no longer neutral.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  4. 4
    delaynoununcountable
    A delay or holding back, now used mainly of engines, where the spark is set to fire later than standard.

    The tuner dialed in two degrees of retard to stop the engine from knocking.

    The new software adds ignition retard whenever the engine is cold.

    Similardelay, retardation, hold-up

    Oppositeadvance

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To be slow or late; to stay back instead of moving on or arriving when expected.
    Note

    Here the slowness belongs to the doer: to retard was to be tardy oneself, slow over a task or later than expected in coming, as a river's yearly flood might be. The use has died out, and modern English says be slow to do something or delay doing it.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Retard formerly described the subject's own slowness in performing something. en.wiktionary.org
    • Retard could describe a river's annual flood arriving later than expected. gutenberg.org
  2. 6
    noun
    In music, a slowing down of the tempo, also called a ritardando.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of retard apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin retardāre ("to retard"), made from re- and tardus ("slow"), reached Middle English as retarden, either through Anglo-Norman retarder or straight from the Latin.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts