retardation
nounUK /ˌɹiː.tɑːˈdeɪ̯.ʃən/ · CA, US /ˌɹi.tɑɹˈdeɪ̯.ʃən/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin retardātiō.
9 senses
- 1The distance by which one wave is behind another.
- 2The act of diminishing the rate of speed.
- 3A decrease in the speed of telegraph signalling.
- 4The extent to which anything is retarded; the result of…
- 5Ellipsis of mental retardation.
- 6Extreme stupidity.
- 7That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction.
- 8Deceleration; reduction in the magnitude of velocity.
- 9A suspension which resolves upwards.
› The act of retarding or delaying; hindrance.
The distance by which one wave is behind another.
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The act of diminishing the rate of speed.
Communications, Electrical engineering, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Telecommunications, Telegraphy A decrease in the speed of telegraph signalling.
The extent to which anything is retarded; the result of any retarding or delay; mental, social, or physical slowness.
Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of mental retardation.
- Me and my friends used to feed LSD to this little retarded girl in our neighborhood and we'd lock arms around her and go "nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare!" It actually cured her retardation.2014, The Eric Andre Show, season 3, episode 6, Eric Andre (actor):
Colloquial, Derogatory, Offensive Extreme stupidity.
That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction.
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics Deceleration; reduction in the magnitude of velocity.
- It was on the first day of the new year that the announcement was made, almost simultaneously from three observatories, that the motion of the planet Neptune, the outermost of all the planets that wheel about the sun, had become very erratic. Ogilvy had already called attention to a suspected retardation in its velocity in December. Such a piece of news was scarcely calculated to interest a world the greater portion of whose inhabitants were unaware of the existence of the planet Neptune, nor outside the astronomical profession did the subsequent discovery of a faint remote speck of light in the region of the perturbed planet cause any very great excitement. Scientific people, however, found the intelligence remarkable enough, even before it became known that the new body was rapidly growing larger and brighter, that its motion was quite different from the orderly progress of the planets, and that the deflection of Neptune and its satellite was becoming now of an unprecedented kind.1897, H. G. Wells, The Star (Science Fiction):
- [...] the effect is automatically to select a braking force which is higher at above 40 m.p.h., in the initial stages of retardation, but is reduced as the speed falls below 40 m.p.h.1960 April, “The braking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 237:
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A suspension which resolves upwards.
- Derived terms
- alpha-thalassemia mental retardation syndrome, autoretardation, growth retardation, mental retardation, retardational
- Related terms
- retard, retardance, retardant, retardate, retardative, retarded, retarder, retardive