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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

withdraw.

To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/wɪðˈdɹɔː/Received-Pronunciation/wɪθˈdɹɔː/Received-Pronunciation/wɪðˈdɹɔ/General-American/wɪθˈdɹɔ/General-American
  1. To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.

    transitive
  2. To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation. To remove (someone or (reflexive, archaic) oneself) from a position or situation; specifically (military), to remove (soldiers) from a battle or position where they are stationed.

    transitive
  3. To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation. To draw or pull (a bolt, curtain, veil, or other object) aside.

    archaic · transitive
  4. To take away or take back (something previously given or permitted); to remove, to retract.

    transitive
  5. To cause or help (someone) to stop taking an addictive drug or substance; to dry out.

    transitive
  6. To take (one's eyes) off something; to look away.

    transitive
  7. To disregard (something) as belonging to a certain group.

    figuratively · transitive
  8. To remove (a topic) from discussion or inquiry.

    figuratively · transitive
  9. To stop (a course of action, proceedings, etc.)

    figuratively · transitive
  10. To take back (a comment, something written, etc.); to recant, to retract.

    figuratively · transitive
    to withdraw false charges
  11. To distract or divert (someone) from a course of action, a goal, etc.

    archaic · obsolete · transitive
  12. To extract (money) from a bank account or other financial deposit.

    transitive
  13. Chiefly followed by from: to leave a place, someone's presence, etc., to go to another room or place.

    intransitive
  14. Chiefly followed by from: to leave a place, someone's presence, etc., to go to another room or place. Of soldiers: to leave a battle or position where they are stationed; to retreat.

    intransitive · specifically
  15. Chiefly followed by from: to stop taking part in some activity; also, to remove oneself from the company of others, from publicity, etc.

    intransitive
  16. To stop talking to or interacting with other people and start thinking thoughts not related to what is happening.

    intransitive
  17. To stop taking an addictive drug or substance; to undergo withdrawal.

    intransitive
  18. Of a man: to remove the penis from a partner's body orifice before ejaculation; to engage in coitus interruptus.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

PIE word *wí From Middle English withdrawen, withdrauen (“to depart, leave, move away; (reflexive) to go away; (reflexive) to leave someone’s service; (often reflexive) to draw back or retreat (from a battlefield or dangerous place), withdraw; to abandon, desert; to go, go forth; to move; of the sea, water, etc.: to (cause to) ebb, recede, subside; to disappear; to slacken, wane; (often reflexive) to cease, stop; to desist, refrain; (reflexive) to go back on, recant; to avoid, eschew; to bring under control, contain, suppress; to curb, curtail; to delay, put off; to demur, refuse; to carry or take away, deprive of, remove; to contract, draw away or in, retract; to deny, refuse; to revoke; to withhold; to divert; to separate; to adopt, borrow, imitate”) [and other forms], from with- (prefix meaning ‘away; back’) + drawen, drauen (“to drag, pull, tow, tug, draw [and other senses]”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)); see further at with- and draw. The English word is analysable as with- + draw.

noun/wɪðˈdɹɔː/Received-Pronunciation/wɪθˈdɹɔː/Received-Pronunciation/wɪðˈdɹɔ/General-American/wɪθˈdɹɔ/General-American
  1. An act of drawing back or removing; a removal, a withdrawal or withdrawing.

    obsolete
  2. Synonym of withdraught (“a dismissal of a lawsuit with prejudice based on a plaintiff's withdrawal of the suit; a retraxit; also, a fine imposed on a plaintiff for such a dismissal”).

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English withdrawe (“act of stopping a judicial proceeding”), from withdrawen, withdrauen (verb): see etymology 1.

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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.