retreat

«retreat» in Mova's school dictionary: To move back or away, especially from danger or an enemy — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (retreat, retreats, retreated, retreating); noun (a retreat, retreats)

meaning for a pupil

1) To move back or away, especially from danger or an enemy. tree →

2) (noun) The act of moving back. tree →

3) (noun) A quiet place where you go to rest or be alone. tree →

4) To change your mind and stop saying or doing something: retreat from a promise. tree →

5) (noun) A short stay away from normal life for rest, prayer or planning. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history and stories an army retreats when it is losing. In science and geography glaciers and tides retreat (move back). In everyday life a retreat can be a cosy hideaway. Phrases: beat a retreat, in full retreat, a weekend retreat.

examples

• The soldiers retreated behind the hill. tree →
• The tide retreats twice a day. tree →
• The cat retreated under the bed during the storm. tree →
• The tree house is my secret retreat. tree →
• The glacier has retreated a long way. tree →
• When the dog barked, we beat a hasty retreat. tree →
• The teachers went on a planning retreat. tree →
• And he pretended to retreat, turning away the head of his horse. tree →

note

Opposite of advance. Regular verb: retreated. In maths and physics problems, an object that retreats moves backwards, so its distance from the start gets smaller.

In the corpora

• "Strategic withdrawal" is the official way to say an army retreated.
• "Tactical redeployment" is military jargon for a retreat.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «retreat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.