Meaning of retreat In English

• 0 to go away from a place or person in order to escape from fighting or danger:

  • Attacks by enemy aircraft forced the tanks to retreat (from the city).

  • When she came towards me shouting, I retreated (behind my desk).

  • When he's done something wrong, he retreats to his bedroom.

• 1 to decide not to do something, or to stop believing something, because it causes too many problems:

  • The government is retreating from its promises.

• 2 If a price retreats, it goes down after it has gone up:

  • Wheat prices retreated after a two-day increase.

• 3 a move back by soldiers or an army, either because they have been defeated or in order to avoid fighting:

  • the retreat from Dunkirk

  • Enemy soldiers are now in (full) retreat.

  • a country/mountain/lakeside retreat

  • We went on (a) retreat at/to a monastery in Wales.

• 4 a change from previous beliefs or behaviour:

  • The professor's speech marked/signalled a retreat from his usual extreme views.

• 5 a situation in which the price of something goes down:

  • Over the past few weeks we have seen the currency's big retreat from its historic high.

• 6 to move back and away from someone or something, esp. because you are frightened or want to be alone:

  • She burst into tears and retreated to the bedroom.

  • Under heavy fire, the soldiers retreated.

• 7 the act of going away from a person or place because you are unwilling to fight any more or are frightened:

  • [ U ] Rebel soldiers were in (full) retreat.

• 8 to become lower in value or amount, especially after getting higher:

  • Wheat prices retreated after a two-day increase.

  • By the end of business, the dollar had retreated by a full percentage point against the euro.

  • retreat to sth Share prices retreated 28p to 721p.

  • retreat from sth Other high-tech stocks retreated from strong gains earlier in the week.

• 9 to stop doing something, because it causes too many problems:

  • retreat from sth The company retreated from the US market in the late 1990s.

• 10 a fall in the price, amount, etc. of something, especially after having been high:

  • a retreat from sth Over the past few weeks we have seen the currency's big retreat from its historic high.

  • The FTSE 100 was also in retreat as London traders responded to falls on Wall Street.

• 11 a decision not to do something you had planned to do, because it causes too many problems