Retract
/rɪˈtrækt/noun
To draw back, withdraw, or take back a statement or claim.
Did you know?Its roots are purely Latin, but the word has long carried the power of reversal: in law, religion, and debate, to retract is to pull a spoken thing back from the world.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tregh-
“to draw, drag”
Latin
Latin
trahere
“to draw, pull”
Latin
Latin
retractus
“drawn back; withdrawn”
Late Latin
Latin
retractāre
“to handle again, revise, withdraw”
Middle English
English
retracten
“to draw back, withdraw a statement”
Modern English
English
retract
“to draw back or take back”