withdrawal
Pluralwithdrawals
- 1The act of receiving back money or valuables that one had earlier entrusted to another's care.
The withdrawal of the documents she had left in the lawyer's keeping required two signatures.
Reclaiming the heirlooms from the vault counted as a withdrawal of property held in trust.
Oppositedeposit
Note
Here the stress falls on taking back what someone else was holding for you, and it reaches well beyond cash. American Jurisprudence (1973) writes of the withdrawal of securities from general accounts. The word counts and pluralizes freely (such withdrawals). Keep it apart from the sum taken out: this sense names the act of reclaiming, while that one names the amount.
- 2The amount of cash or funds drawn out of a bank account.
A large withdrawal like that usually triggers a call from the bank.
The teller recorded the withdrawal in the ledger before counting out the bills.
Oppositedeposit
- 3A form of metabolic shock the body undergoes when a drug or other substance it has become dependent on is taken away.
The clinic eases patients through withdrawal with carefully tapered doses.
Severe withdrawal can include tremors, sweating, and a racing heart.
Note
The substance is usually named first, in front of the noun: heroin withdrawal, nicotine withdrawal, caffeine withdrawal. The pattern is open, so it covers hard drugs and everyday stimulants alike. On its own, context decides whether the word means this bodily reaction or the general act of pulling back.
- 4The act of pulling back or removing oneself from a place or activity, or the state of being remote and emotionally distant.
The general ordered a swift withdrawal of troops from the contested border.
Her withdrawal into silence followed weeks of unbroken stress.
Similarretreat, removal, departure
Oppositeadvance
Note
The broadest sense takes on a different subject in each field that uses it. H. C. Casserley, writing in Railway Magazine (1950), uses it for a locomotive retired from service. Dafydd Pritchard's BBC Sport report (2023) uses it for Wes Burns leaving a match in the first half with an injured shoulder. Both writers attach a preposition that says what is left or why: withdrawal from service, withdrawal with an injury.
- 5A method of birth control in which the penis is removed from the vagina before ejaculation to prevent pregnancy.
Health educators warn that withdrawal alone often fails to prevent pregnancy.
They practiced withdrawal for years before switching to a more dependable method.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from the verb "withdraw" combined with the suffix "-al".