Synonyms for retract
- back down
- back off
- cancel
- deny
- disavow
- disown
- pull back
- recant
- renege
- renounce
- repeal
- repudiate
- rescind
- reverse
- revoke
- rule out
- take back
- withdraw
- abjure
- back
- countermand
- disclaim
- eliminate
- exclude
- forswear
- recall
- recede
- retreat
- retrograde
- sheathe
- suspend
- unsay
- welsh
- back out of
- call off
- change one's mind
- draw in
- eat one's words
- fall back
- forget it
- go back on
- have change of heart
- nig
- pull in
- reel in
- retrocede
- take in
Antonyms for retract
- acknowledge
- admit
- agree
- allow
- approve
- enforce
- go forward
- permit
- sanction
- accept
- advance
- forge
- include
- welcome
- corroborate
- emphasize
- reaffirm
- repeat
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR RETRACT
He knew she was too much like himself ever to retract her words.
I do own myself beaten,' says she, 'and I retract my words.'
I repeat my words: I will not "retract," I cannot "repent of them."
Some of them were sent to the Tower, but they would not retract.
No, I'll retract that, and on second thought reverse that judgment.
Well, sir, let us away; for I have now gone too far to retract.
But of which I absolved him, sister Dinah; or rather, which I made him retract.
Her fear was very natural, but out of shamefacedness I did not like to retract.
Yet he also knew that it was too late to retract his statement.
"I trust you will not stoop to retract your meaning," rejoined Bertrand.
WORD ORIGIN
early 15c., "to draw (something) back," from Old French retracter (14c.) and directly from Latin retractus, past participle of retrahere "to draw back" (see retraction). Sense of "to revoke, recant, take back" is attested from 1540s, probably a back-formation from retraction. Related: Retracted; retracting.