# retarded

Pronunciation: US say "ree-TAR-did" /ɹiˈtɑɹdɪd/; UK say "ri-TAH-did" /ɹɪˈtɑːdɪd/

## Adjective

2. An offensive way of calling a person, idea or thing extremely stupid or obtuse. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A rude and hurtful way of saying that someone or something is very stupid.
3. Delayed or held back, especially in development; hindered or impeded.
   - Simple: Slowed down or held back, especially in growing or developing.
   - _A cold, wet spring caused retarded flowering across the whole orchard._
   - _The region's retarded economic development left it far behind its neighbors._
5. Of a quantity describing an electromagnetic field, adjusted to allow for the finite speed at which radiation travels.
   - Simple: In physics, describing a value for an electric or magnetic field that allows for the time radiation takes to travel.
   - _Physicists use the retarded potential to find the field a moving charge produces at a distant point._
   - _The retarded time accounts for the delay between a charge's motion and the moment its field is felt elsewhere._

## Verb

4. Simple past and past participle of retard. — simple past and past participle of retard
   - Simple: Simple past and past participle of retard. Use it for the past, or after has, have, had, is, was or were.
   - _High interest rates have retarded the recovery of the housing market._
   - _The engineers retarded the ignition to keep the engine from knocking._

## Adjective

1. Having mental retardation, an older term for intellectual disability; mentally deficient or underdeveloped. *(dated)*
   - Simple: An old word, now often hurtful, for having a mind that is slow to develop.
6. In older clinical use, specifically having an IQ below 70. *(dated)*
   - Simple: In an old medical use, having an IQ score below 70.

## Origin

Formed from retard + the suffix -ed.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/retarded (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).