1. Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
   "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"
   - abjure, recant, forswear, resile 
2. Pull away from a source of disgust or fear
   - shrink back 
3. Use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)
   - pull back, draw back 
4. Pull inward or towards a centre
   "The cat retracted his claws"
   - draw in

Derived forms: retracting, retracted, retracts

See also: retraction, retractor

Type of: attract, blench, cringe, disown, draw, draw in, flinch, funk, pull, pull in, quail, recoil, renounce, repudiate, shrink, squinch, wince

Encyclopedia: Retract

• fragrant woodsia
• fragrantly
• frail
• frailly
• frailness
• frailty
• fraise
• framable
• frambesia
• framboesia
• framboise
• frame
• frame buffer
• frame in
• frame of mind
• frame of reference
• frame rate
• frame-up
• framed
• framer
• framework
• framing
• franc
• franc-tireur
• France