retraction

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English retraccioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin retractiō (“a drawing back; hesitation, refusal”),^[4][3][5][6] the noun of action from retractus, the past participle of retrahō (“to draw back”).^[4][6][5] The Middle English Dictionary also names Old French retracion as a source,^[2] and Merriam-Webster and Klein take the word through Middle French retraction.^[6][5] The revised OED treats it as a borrowing from Latin, perhaps influenced in its early use by retractātiō (“reconsideration, taking back one's words”), the word in the title of St Augustine's “Retractationes”, and compares the Anglo-Norman and Middle French forms retraction and retractioun, recorded once in the 13th century and then from the late 14th.^[4] Etymonline instead derives it from retractō (“to revoke, cancel”), formed from re- (“back”) and tractō, a frequentative of trahō (“to draw”).^[3] The OED notes that the noun serves two related verbs, retract "to withdraw a statement" and retract "to draw back".^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The withdrawal of something one has said or written, with an admission that it was wrong: c. 1405, in the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Retraction.^[4][2] Chaucer used the word once.^[7] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, with the sense "withdrawal of an opinion".^[3]

Semantic evolution

Two lines of meaning ran side by side: withdrawal or cancellation, matching the verb retract "to take back", and physical drawing back, matching retract "to pull in".^[4] The physical sense appears in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's surgery from before 1425, of the drawing back of the blood,^[2][4] and was generalised to any drawing back or in by 1528.^[4] On the side of cancellation, the word was used of revoking a decree from 1536 and of withdrawing from a promise from 1550.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, the withdrawing of something advanced and recantation.^[8] A figurative use, of a spiritual pull inwards or backwards, is recorded before 1661 in Fuller,^[4] and the phonetic sense, the drawing back of the tongue, from 1890 in Henry Sweet.^[4] In law it is also used of withdrawing a repudiation of a contract or a renunciation in a will.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1405 – the withdrawal of a statement admitted to be wrong; recantation.^[4][2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[3]
• before 1425 – the drawing back of a part of the body.^[2][4]
• 1483 – in Caxton, in the sense of retractation (now historical).^[4]
• 1528 – the action of drawing something back or in.^[4]
• 1536 – the revoking of a decision or decree.^[4]
• 1550 – withdrawal from a promise or undertaking.^[4]
• before 1661 – figuratively, an inward or backward pull of the mind or spirit.^[4]
• 1684 – a retreat (obsolete).^[4]
• 1890 – in phonetics, the drawing back of the tongue.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking back a statement, accusation or promise, especially with an admission that it was wrong; a recantation: The magazine published a retraction of the claims in its next issue.^[10][6][4]
2. A statement in which something is taken back.^[6][9]
3. The act of drawing something back or in, or the state of being drawn back, as of a claw or other retractile part.^[10][6][4]
4. The ability to draw something back.^[11][4]
5. (phonetics) The drawing back of the tongue in making a sound.^[4]

Word family

• nonretraction

Related words

• retract
• retractation
• retractile
• tract
• traction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster