Question

retract She was forced to retract her comment about her opponent after it was condemned in the press. riˈtrækt

Accepted Answer

(1) To pull back (something) into something larger. (2) To take back (something said or written). The prefix re- (“back”) gives retract the meaning of “draw back.” Just as a cat retracts its claws into its paws when they aren't being used, a public figure may issue a retraction in order to say that he or she no longer wants to say something that has just been said. But it's sometimes hard to know what a retraction means: Was the original statement an error or an outright lie? Sometimes a politician even has to retract something that everyone actually assumes is the truth. Thousands of citizens were forced to publicly retract their “wrong” ideas by the Soviet government in the 1930s and the Chinese government in the 1960s. Someone wrongly accused may demand a retraction from his accuser—though today it seems more likely that he'll just go ahead and sue

word	retract
definition	(1) To pull back (something) into something larger. (2) To take back (something said or written).
eg_sentence	She was forced to retract her comment about her opponent after it was condemned in the press.
explanation	The prefix re- (“back”) gives retract the meaning of “draw back.” Just as a cat retracts its claws into its paws when they aren't being used, a public figure may issue a retraction in order to say that he or she no longer wants to say something that has just been said. But it's sometimes hard to know what a retraction means: Was the original statement an error or an outright lie? Sometimes a politician even has to retract something that everyone actually assumes is the truth. Thousands of citizens were forced to publicly retract their “wrong” ideas by the Soviet government in the 1930s and the Chinese government in the 1960s. Someone wrongly accused may demand a retraction from his accuser—though today it seems more likely that he'll just go ahead and sue
IPA	riˈtrækt

Retract Retraction Back Forced Government Pull Larger Written