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Retraction   Listen
noun
Retraction  n.  
1.
The act of retracting, or drawing back; the state of being retracted; as, the retraction of a cat's claws.
2.
The act of withdrawing something advanced, stated, claimed, or done; declaration of change of opinion; recantation. "Other men's insatiable desire of revenge hath wholly beguiled both church and state of the benefit of all my either retractions or concessions."
3.
(Physiol.)
(a)
The act of retracting or shortening; as, the retraction of a severed muscle; the retraction of a sinew.
(b)
The state or condition of a part when drawn back, or towards the center of the body.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Retraction" Quotes from Famous Books



... himself universally shunned. An apology may be, according to circumstances, either the noblest effort of manliness or the last resource of fear, and it was evident, from the reception which this gentleman experienced every where, that the former, at least, was not the class to which his late retraction had been referred. In this crisis of his character, a Mr. Barnett, who had but lately come to reside in his neighborhood, observing with pain the mortifications to which he was exposed, and perhaps thinking them, in some degree, unmerited, took upon him to urge earnestly the necessity of a ...
— Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan V1 • Thomas Moore

... long before Shields and Whitesides arrived, and soon Lincoln received a note in which the indignant auditor said: "I will take the liberty of requiring a full, positive, and absolute retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in these communications in relation to my private character and standing as a man, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them. This may prevent consequences which no one ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896 • Various

... deed of blood is done, he sins but once. If he disavows his resolution and afterwards resolves anew, he repeats the sin of murder in his soul as often as he goes through this process of will action. This sincere retraction of a deed is called moral interruption and it has the mysterious power ...
— Explanation of Catholic Morals - A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals • John H. Stapleton

... diseased area, which is sharply-defined, and feels like a thin layer of indurated tissue, presents a florid, intensely red, very finely-granular, raw surface, attended with a more or less copious viscid exudation. Sooner or later retraction and destruction of the nipple, followed by gradual scirrhous involvement of the whole breast, ...
— Essentials of Diseases of the Skin • Henry Weightman Stelwagon

... of this branch than anything else. I usually keep on my desk during a heated campaign, a large paper weight, weighing three or four pounds, and in several instances I have found that I could feed that to a constant reader of my valuable paper instead of a retraction. ...
— Remarks • Bill Nye

... Italy, was nearly consummated, when a treacherous colleague revealed to the accredited agents both of Austria and the Pope the system of this mysterious revolutionary combination in and around Ferrara. The latter shrank from extreme measures, and was content with an oath of retraction; but the Austrian government gave instant orders to the chiefs of police, both there and at Venice, to arrest those whom the perjured Count Villa named as adherents of Carbonarism. The decree was executed with ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 25, November, 1859 • Various

... religion when he had nothing else to do, and to record his impressions of the sermons he was condemned to listen to, must forever remain among the minor mysteries of humanity; but about M. de Talleyrand's "retraction," as it has been called, strange to say, there is no mystery at all. It was a mere exemplification of "the ruling passion strong in death." He could no longer care for himself, which had been the chief business of his life; but he could do what was next thing to it—he could care for his relations ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various

... full expiration; the black continuous line A gives the increase in size of the chest, and the descent of the diaphragm, indicated by the curved transverse lines, in full abdominal respiration. The dotted line C shows the retraction of the diaphragm and of the abdominal muscles in forced clavicular inspiration. The varying thickness of the line B indicates the fact of healthy breathing in a man being more abdominal than in woman. The outlines of forced inspiration in both sexes ...
— The Mechanism of the Human Voice • Emil Behnke

... in my presence yesterday evening, and I demand from you a retraction of all that you uttered. I am not skilled in writing, but you will understand me. The friend who bears ...
— The Youth of Jefferson - A Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764 • Anonymous

... fight was to approach him and address him as "Peter Van Buskirk." He bitterly resented it, which was most unreasonable of him. I recall times when the three of us struggled in the haymow for hours at a time, Peter Van Buskirk, furiously angry, striving to force an apology or retraction, and Henry and I having a glorious ...
— South American Fights and Fighters - And Other Tales of Adventure • Cyrus Townsend Brady



Words linked to "Retraction" :   retract, disclaimer, movement, move, disavowal, motility, motion, climb-down, backdown, withdrawal, recantation, abjuration



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