# withdraw

Pronunciation: say "with-DRAW" US /wɪðˈdɹɔ/, UK /wɪðˈdɹɔː/

## Verb

1. To take money out of a bank account or other financial deposit.
   - Simple: To take money out of a bank account.
   - _He went to the ATM to withdraw cash for the weekend._
   - _They withdrew their entire balance and closed the account._
2. To cancel or remove something one had previously granted, offered, or permitted.
   - Simple: To take back something you gave or allowed before.
   - _The company decided to withdraw its support for the event._
   - _Officials withdrew the permit when safety concerns emerged._
3. To stop taking part in an activity; also, to remove oneself from the company of others or from public life.
   - Simple: To stop taking part in an activity, or to keep away from other people.
   - _Several countries chose to withdraw from the negotiations._
   - _After the scandal, the actor withdrew from public life entirely._
4. To leave a place or someone's presence in order to go to another room or location.
   - Simple: To leave a place and go somewhere else, such as another room.
   - _The host invited everyone to withdraw to the garden after the meal._
   - _The judge withdrew to her chambers to consider the verdict._
5. To retract a remark, accusation, or written statement, declaring that one no longer stands by it.
   - Simple: To take back something you said or wrote.
   - _She refused to withdraw her accusation despite the pressure._
   - _The senator withdrew the comment and apologized publicly._
6. Of troops, to pull out of a battle or out of a position they have been holding.
   - Simple: When soldiers leave a battle and pull back from their position.
   - _Commanders ordered the battalion to withdraw to safer ground._
   - _The defenders withdrew under heavy fire._
7. To remove someone from a position or situation; specifically, to pull soldiers out of a battle or station.
   - Simple: To remove a person from a job, place, or situation.
   - _Headquarters chose to withdraw the regiment from the front._
   - _The board withdrew her from the committee pending an inquiry._
8. To remove something by drawing it back or out, as a needle from a patient's arm or a probe from a sample.
   - Simple: To pull something back or away from where it was.
   - _Slowly withdraw the probe to avoid damaging the sample._
   - _The surgeon carefully withdrew the needle from the patient's arm._
9. To stop taking an addictive drug or substance, and to go through the effects of stopping.
   - Simple: To stop using a drug that your body has come to need.
   - _Doctors warned that he should not withdraw from the drug without medical supervision._
   - _She withdrew from the sedatives gradually over several months._
10. To stop talking to or interacting with others and become absorbed in one's own thoughts.
   - Simple: To stop talking to people around you and get lost in your own thoughts.
   - _Teenagers sometimes withdraw when they feel overwhelmed by their problems._
   - _He withdrew from his friends and spent his evenings alone._
11. To stop a course of action, legal proceedings, or similar process that is already under way.
   - Simple: To officially stop something you started, such as a plan or a legal case.
   - _The prosecutor moved to withdraw the charges once new evidence emerged._
   - _After weeks of protest, the council withdrew the proposed law._
12. To remove a topic from discussion or inquiry so that it is no longer considered.
   - Simple: To take a subject out of a discussion so people stop talking about it.
   - _The committee voted to withdraw the controversial motion from debate._
   - _She withdrew her question once she realized it was off topic._
13. To help or cause someone to stop taking an addictive drug or substance.
   - Simple: To help someone stop using a drug their body has come to need.
   - _Specialists aim to withdraw patients from opioids gradually to limit severe symptoms._
   - _The program withdrew him from alcohol under close medical supervision._
14. To take one's eyes off something; to turn one's gaze away from it.
   - Simple: To turn your eyes away from something you were looking at.
   - _Unable to withdraw her eyes from the painting, she stood there for an hour._
   - _He withdrew his gaze the moment she turned around._
15. Of a man, to remove the penis from a partner's body before ejaculation; to practice coitus interruptus.
   - Simple: Of a man, to pull out of a partner's body before climax.
   - _Worried about pregnancy, he decided to withdraw rather than rely on anything else._
   - _He withdrew at the last moment, as they had agreed beforehand._
16. To disregard something as belonging to a particular group or category.
   - Simple: To treat something as not really part of a group it would normally belong to.
   - _Some critics withdraw genre fiction from the category of serious literature._
   - _The reviewers withdrew the study from the body of credible research._

## Verb

17. To draw back a curtain, veil, bolt, or the like, sliding it aside to open or uncover something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To pull something like a bolt, curtain, or veil to one side.
   - _The servant stepped forward to withdraw the velvet curtain before the guests._
   - _She withdrew the veil from her face and looked at him._
18. To cause someone to lose focus on or move away from a plan, goal, or intended course of action. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To turn someone away from a plan or goal they meant to follow.

## Noun

19. An act of drawing back or removing something; a removal or withdrawal. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An act of pulling back or taking something away.
20. A dismissal of a lawsuit with prejudice based on the plaintiff's abandonment of the suit; also, a fine imposed for such a dismissal. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A kind of legal dismissal that ends a lawsuit for good because the person who sued gives it up.
   - _The clerk entered a withdraw on the roll, barring the plaintiff from suing again._
   - _A withdraw was levied on the plaintiff for abandoning the suit._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–18** — From Middle English withdrawen, meaning to depart, retreat, or take away. It combines the prefix with- ('away, back') with drawen ('to drag, pull, tug'), which ultimately goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰregʰ- ('to drag, pull; to run').
**Meanings 19–20** — From Middle English withdrawe ('the act of stopping a judicial proceeding'), formed from the verb withdrawen (see etymology 1).

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