retreat

[[t]rɪtri͟ːt[/t]]

♦♦♦

retreats, retreating, retreated

1) VERB If you retreat, you move away from something or someone.

[V prep] `I've already got a job,' I said quickly, and retreated from the room...

[V-ing] The young nurse pulled a face at the Matron's retreating figure. [Also V]

2) VERB When an army retreats, it moves away from enemy forces in order to avoid fighting them.

The French, suddenly outnumbered, were forced to retreat...

[V-ing] Retreating soldiers were dousing homes and shops with petrol and setting them on fire.

N-VAR

Retreat is also a noun.

In June 1942, the British 8th Army was in full retreat.

3) VERB If you retreat from something such as a plan or a way of life, you give it up, usually in order to do something safer or less extreme.

[V from/into n] I believe people should live in houses that allow them to retreat from the harsh realities of life...

[V from/into n] From bouncing confidence she had retreated into self-pity.

N-VAR: usu N from/into n

Retreat is also a noun.

The President's remarks appear to signal that there will be no retreat from his position... It's a retreat into the adolescence they never really had.

4) N-COUNT: oft supp N A retreat is a quiet, isolated place that you go to in order to rest or to do things in private.

He spent yesterday hidden away in his country retreat.

5) PHRASE: V inflects If you beat a retreat, you leave a place quickly in order to avoid an embarrassing or dangerous situation.

Cockburn decided it was time to beat a hasty retreat.