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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Retention \Re*ten"tion\, noun [L. retentio: cf. F. r['e]tention. See {Retain}.]
1. The act of retaining, or the state of being ratined.
2. The power of retaining; retentiveness.
No woman's heart So big, to hold so much; they lack retention. --Shak.
3. That which contains something, as a tablet; a ???? of preserving impressions. [R.] --Shak.
4. The act of withholding; retraint; reserve. --Shak.
5. Place of custody or confinement.
6. (Law) The right of withholding a debt, or of retaining property until a debt due to the person claiming the right be duly paid; a lien. --Erskine. Craig.
{Retention cyst} (Med.), a cyst produced by obstruction of a duct leading from a secreting organ and the consequent retention of the natural secretions.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
retention
noun
1: the act of keeping in your possession [syn: {keeping}, {holding}]
2: the power of retaining and recalling past experience; "he had a good memory when he was younger" [syn: {memory}, {retentiveness}]
3: the power of retaining liquid; "moisture retentivity of soil" [syn: {retentiveness}, {retentivity}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
63 Moby Thesaurus words for "retention": abnegation, adhesiveness, bullheadedness, camera-eye, cohesiveness, consistency, contradiction, declension, declination, declinature, declining, denial, deprivation, disagreement, disallowance, disclaimer, disclamation, disobedience, dissent, eidetic memory, gluiness, glutinosity, gumminess, holding back, memory span, nay, negation, negative, negative answer, nix, no, nonacceptance, noncompliance, nonconsent, nonobservance, obstinacy, persistence, persistency, photographic memory, recantation, refusal, rejection, repudiation, retentive memory, retentiveness, retentivity, snugness, stick-to-itiveness, stickiness, stubbornness, tackiness, tenaciousness, tenacity, thumbs-down, tightness, total memory, total recall, toughness, turndown, unwillingness, viscidity, viscosity, withholding
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |