retardation

[ ree-tahr-dey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of retarding or state of being retarded.
2. something that retards; hindrance.
3. Usually Offensive. slowness or limitation in intellectual understanding and awareness, emotional development, academic progress, etc. intellectual disability ( def ), mental retardation ( def ).
4. Music. a form of suspension that is resolved upward.

retardation

/ ˌriːtɑːˈdeɪʃən; rɪˈtɑːdmənt /

noun

1. the act of retarding or the state of being retarded
2. something that retards; hindrance
3. the rate of deceleration
4. psychiatry the slowing down of mental functioning and bodily movement

Sensitive Note

See retarded.

Derived Forms

• reˈtardative, adjective

Other Words From

• re·tard·a·tive [ri-, tahr, -d, uh, -tiv], re·tard·a·to·ry [ri-, tahr, -d, uh, -tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], adjective
• non·re·tar·da·tion noun
• non·re·tard·a·tive adjective
• non·re·tard·a·to·ry adjective
• non·re·tard·ment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of retardation¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English retardacioun, from Latin retardātiōn- (stem of retardātiō ), equivalent to retardāt(us) ( retard, -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- noun suffix ( -ion )

Example Sentences

We may conclude, therefore, that the volume of business done on credit gradually increases as the population and total amount of business are enlarged, but at a decreasing rate and with occasional or periodic retardations.

From Project Gutenberg

Its accelerations and retardations carry on a continual conflict with the typical time of the music, yet that typical time is not only printed on every sheet, but is in the mind of every player.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus we trace Fate, in matter, mind, and morals—in race, in retardations of strata, and in thought and character as well.

From Project Gutenberg

The organist, Mr. Norman Maugans, always grew temperamental when he played Mendelssohn's "Wedding March," and always relieved its monotonous cadence with passionate accelerations and abrupt retardations.

From Project Gutenberg

Accelerations and retardations, depending upon processes of growth or change, take place in very much the same kind of way as in solar maculæ, inevitably suggesting similarity of origin.

From Project Gutenberg