1. Move away or backward
   "The enemy retreated";
   - withdraw, pull away, draw back, recede, pull back, retire, move back
    
2. Move back
   "The glacier retreats";
   - retrograde
    
3. Move away, as for privacy
   "The Pope retreats to Castelgondolfo every summer"
    
4. Make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity
   "The investor had to retreat from the deal";
   - pull back, back out, back away, crawfish [N. Amer, informal], crawfish out [N. Amer, informal], pull in one's horns [informal], withdraw

1. The act of withdrawing or going backward (especially to escape something hazardous or unpleasant)
   "The army's retreat from the advancing enemy was strategic"
    
2. (military) withdrawal of troops to a more favourable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
   "the disorderly retreat of French troops"
    
3. A place of privacy; a place affording peace and quiet
   "The writer found inspiration at his mountain retreat"
    
4. An area where you can be alone
   "The writer found inspiration in her mountain retreat";
   - hideaway
    
5. Withdrawal for prayer and study and meditation
   "the religious retreat is a form of vacation activity";
   - retirement
    
6. (military) a signal to begin a withdrawal from a dangerous position
   "The commander ordered a retreat when enemy forces overwhelmed their position"
    
7. (military) a bugle call signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset
   "The solemn notes of retreat marked the end of the day on the military base"

Derived forms: retreats, retreating, retreated

See also: move

Type of: area, break, break off, bugle call, cease, country, discontinue, give up, go, lay off, locomote, move, quit, sign, signal, signaling [N. Amer], signalling [Brit, Cdn], stop, surcease [archaic], travel, withdrawal

Antonym: progress

Encyclopedia: Retreat, New Jersey