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Verb: retract  ri'trakt
  1. Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
    "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion";
    - abjure, recant, forswear, resile
     
  2. Pull away from a source of disgust or fear
    - shrink back
     
  3. Use a surgical instrument to hold open (the edges of a wound or an organ)
    - pull back, draw back
     
  4. Pull inward or towards a centre
    "The cat retracted his claws";
    - draw in

Derived forms: retracted, retracting, retracts

Type of: attract, blench, cringe, disown, draw, draw in, flinch, funk, pull, pull in, quail, recoil, renounce, repudiate, shrink, squinch [N. Amer], wince

Encyclopedia: Retract