Retract vs Curtail - What's the difference?
retract | curtail |
To pull back inside.
(ambitransitive) To draw back; to draw up.
To take back or withdraw something one has said.
* Bishop Stillingfleet
* Granville
To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.
(obsolete) To cut short the tail of an animal
To shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.
(figuratively) To limit or restrict, keep in check.
* Macaulay
In lang=en terms the difference between retract and curtail
is that retract is to take back or withdraw something one has said while curtail is to shorten or abridge the duration of something; to truncate.As verbs the difference between retract and curtail
is that retract is to pull back inside while curtail is (obsolete) to cut short the tail of an animal.As a noun curtail is
(architecture) a scroll termination, as of a step, etc.retract
English
Verb
(en verb)- An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
- Muscles retract after amputation.
- A cat can retract its claws.
- I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won't sue me.
- I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it.
- She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, / Consents, retracts , advances, and then flies.
- (Woodward)
Synonyms
* take back * withcall * withdrawSee also
* unsay * unspeakcurtail
English
Verb
(en verb)- ''Curtailing horses procured long horse-hair.
- When the audience grew restless, the speaker curtailed her speech.
- Their efforts to curtail spending didn't quite succeed.
- Our incomes have been curtailed ; his salary has been doubled.