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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

retrieve.

To regain or get back something.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹɪˈtɹiːv/Received-Pronunciation/ɹə-/Received-Pronunciation/ɹəˈtɹiv/General-American/ɹi-/General-American
  1. To regain or get back something.

    transitive
    to retrieve one's character or independence; to retrieve a thrown ball
  2. To rescue (a creature).

    transitive
  3. To salvage something

    transitive
  4. To remedy or rectify something.

    transitive
  5. To remember or recall something.

    transitive
  6. To fetch or carry back something, especially (computing) a file or data record.

    transitive
  7. To fetch and bring in game.

    transitive
    The cook doesn't care what's shot, only what's actually retrieved.
  8. To fetch and bring in game systematically.

    intransitive
    Dog breeds called 'retrievers' were selected for retrieving.
  9. To fetch or carry back systematically, notably as a game.

    intransitive
    Most dogs love retrieving, regardless of what object is thrown.
  10. To make a difficult but successful return of the ball.

    transitive
  11. To remedy the evil consequence of, to repair (a loss or damage).

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).

noun/ɹɪˈtɹiːv/Received-Pronunciation/ɹə-/Received-Pronunciation/ɹəˈtɹiv/General-American/ɹi-/General-American
  1. A retrieval.

  2. The return of a difficult ball.

  3. A seeking again; a discovery.

    obsolete
  4. The recovery of game once sprung.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.