retard

From Middle English retarden, from Anglo-Norman or Latin, from Anglo-Norman retarder, from Latin retardāre (“to retard”), from re- + tardus (“slow”).

Noun (delay sense), Verb

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d

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Noun (offensive sense)

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːtɑː(ɹ)d/

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retard (plural retards)

1. Retardation; delay.

   Synonyms: delay, hold-up, retardation

2. (music) A slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando.
3. (offensive, dated) A person with mental retardation.

   Synonyms: retarded, (offensive) tard, (disused medical term) imbecile, (legal term) mental deficient, (disused medical term) moron

   The retard in our class needs special help.

4. (informal, offensive) A person or being who is extremely stupid or slow to learn.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool

   • 2007, Doug Green, No Wife No Kids No Plan, →ISBN:

     “That's 'cause your dog is a retard,” the large woman retorted. The pit bull must have sensed the insult because it got up on all fours and started barking at the woman. Not one to back down from an interspecies fight, the prison lady stood up […]

Through the euphemism treadmill, the term retard (which originated as a then-neutral substitute for the terms that had previously designated those with disabilities, namely idiot, imbecile, and moron) has come to be offensive; see Wikipedia for more. In a 2003 survey by the BBC, retard was voted the most offensive word relating to disability, followed by spastic.[1]

• full retard
• retard strength
• -tard

retard (third-person singular simple present retards, present participle retarding, simple past and past participle retarded)

1. (transitive) To keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progressing.

   Synonyms: impede, hinder, hold up

   retard the march of an army

   retard the motion of a ship

2. (transitive) To put off; to postpone.

   to retard the attacks of old age

   to retard a rupture between nations

3. (transitive, obsolete) To be slow or dilatory to perform (something).
4. (intransitive) To decelerate; to slow down.
   • 2019, Airbus A350 - Landing (Retard) (YouTube)‎, cockpit voice (actor):

     70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, retard, retard...

   • 2021 June 2, Michael Rhodes, “Tinsley reborn...”, in RAIL, number 932, pages 35–36:

     This application of hydraulics led Sir George Dowty to develop the wagon retarder system, which comprised small hydraulic rams mounted inside the rail. These rams could simply retard a wagon, or both retard and 'boost' or speed up a wagon by hydraulic pressure.

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To stay back.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     Some years it [The River Nile] hath also retarded, and come far later than usually it was expected

• (keep delaying; continue to hinder): decelerate, hinder, slow, slow down; See also Thesaurus:hinder
• (postpone): postpone, put off; See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (decelerate): decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up
• (stay back): hang back, stay back; See also Thesaurus:tarry

• (antonym(s) of “keep delaying; continue to hinder”): accelerate, speed, speed up
• (antonym(s) of “postpone”):
• (antonym(s) of “stay back”): come forward

• growth-retarding
• retarded

• IQ Basics, including formerly used medical terms for people with very low IQs

• Darter, R-rated, Trader, darter, dartre, retrad, tarred, trader

Deverbal from retardar.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [rəˈtart]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [reˈtaɾt]

retard m (plural retards)

1. delay

   Synonyms: demora, endarreriment

   El tren ha arribat amb dues hores de retard. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• “retard” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “retard” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “retard”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

Deverbal from retarder.

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.taʁ/

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retard m (plural retards)

1. delay

• avoir un train de retard
• en retard
• prendre du retard

• → Norwegian Bokmål: retard
• → Turkish: rötar

• “retard”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From French retard (“delay”), from the verb retarder (“to retard, slow down”).

• IPA^(key): /rəˈtɑːr/

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• Rhymes: -ɑːr
• Hyphenation: ret‧ard
• Homophones: R, r

retard m (definite singular retarden, indefinite plural retarder, definite plural retardene)

1. (horology) side in a clockwork to which the adjustment indicator must be set to make the clock go slower

   Synonyms: R, r

• avance

• “retard” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• darret, radert, trader

Borrowed from French retard.

retard m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. delaying

retard n (uncountable)

1. delay