retreating

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of retreat.

   The battalion was retreating under cover of darkness.

   Investors are retreating from volatile markets this month.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every meaning of retreat. Because the verb takes no direct object, whatever is left behind comes after from: retreating from the coast, from a promise. The same form also covers a glacier shrinking in warmer weather and a surface that slopes back. One homograph needs care: these letters can also spell re-treating, treating again, where the hyphenated form avoids confusion.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of moving back from something, such as withdrawing from battle or pulling away from a difficult position.

   The army's retreating from the border surprised everyone.

   A gradual retreating of the glacier has reshaped the valley over decades.

   Similarwithdrawal, recession

   Oppositeadvance

   Note

   A noun that puts the weight on movement in progress, and one that can be counted: Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution (1837) speaks of "the marchings and retreatings" of six thousand men. You can tell it from the verb's gerund by its company. An article, an adjective or a following of mark the noun (a gradual retreating of the glacier). An adverb or a from-phrase marks the verb.

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