Definition of 'retrieve'
Word forms: 3rd person singular present tense retrieves
, present participle retrieving
, past tense, past participle retrieved
1. verb
If you retrieve something, you get it back from the place where you left it.
2. verb
If you manage to retrieve a situation, you succeed in bringing it back into a more acceptable state.
3. verb
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
retrieve in British English
verb (mainly tr)
2.
4.
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
retrievable (reˈtrievable) adjective
retrievability (reˌtrievaˈbility)
noun
retrievably (reˈtrievably)
adverb
Word origin
C15: from Old French retrover, from re- + trouver to find, perhaps from Vulgar Latin tropāre (unattested) to compose; see trover, troubadourWord Frequency
retrieve in American English
verb transitiveWord forms: reˈtrieved or reˈtrieving
1.
to get back; recover
3.
to rescue or save
5.
to recall to mind
verb intransitive
9. Hunting
to retrieve game
SIMILAR WORDS: reˈcover
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
retrievable (reˈtrievable)
adjective
Word origin
ME retreven < inflected stem of OFr retrouver < re-, again + trouver, to find: see troverWord Frequency
retrieve in American English
(rɪˈtriv) (verb -trieved, -trieving)
transitive verb
4.
to make good; repair
to retrieve a loss
5. Hunting (of hunting dogs)
to fetch (killed or wounded game)
7.
to rescue; save
8. (in tennis, squash, handball, etc.)
intransitive verb
SYNONYMS 1. See recover.10. Hunting
to retrieve game
11.
to retrieve a fishing line
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
retrievable adjective
retrievability
noun
Word origin
[1375–1425; late ME retreven ‹ MF retroev-, retreuv-, tonic s. of retrouver to find again, equiv. to re- re- + trouver to find; see trover]Examples of 'retrieve' in a sentence
retrieve
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In other languages
retrieve
British English: retrieve
VERB /rɪˈtriːv/
If you retrieve something, you get it back from the place where you left it.
He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat.
- American English: retrieve /rɪˈtriv/
- Brazilian Portuguese: reaver
- Chinese: 找回
- European Spanish: recuperar
- French: récupérer
- German: zurückholen
- Italian: recuperare
- Japanese: 回収する
- Korean: 회수하다
- European Portuguese: reaver
- Latin American Spanish: recuperar
- Thai: ได้กลับคืน
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Definition of retrieve from the Collins English Dictionary
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