Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Retiring |
RetiringAdjective1. Not blatant or overly aggressive in manner or appearance; "a retiring disposition". 2. Moving toward a position farther from the front; "the receding glaciers of the last ice age"; "retiring fogs revealed the rocky coastline". 3. Not arrogant or presuming; "unassuming to a fault, skeptical about the value of his work"; "a shy retiring girl". 4. Of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office; "a retiring member of the board". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "retiring" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: RetiringSynonyms: past(a) (adj), preceding(a) (adj), receding (adj), retiring(a) (adj), unassertive (adj), unassuming (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Concavity | Adjective: depressed; Verb: alveolate, calathiform, cup-shaped, dishing; favaginous, faveolate, favose; scyphiform, scyphose; concave, hollow, stove in; retiring; retreating; cavernous; porous; (with holes); infundibul, infundibular, infundibuliform; funnel shaped, bell shaped; campaniform, capsular; vaulted, arched. |
Modesty | Noun: modesty; humility; diffidence, timidity; retiring disposition; unobtrusiveness; bashfulness; Adjective: mauvaise honte; blush, blushing; verecundity; self-knowledge. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Retiring |
| English words defined with "retiring": backward ♦ Downlying ♦ Ebb tide ♦ hermit thrush, hibernation ♦ meek, mild, modest ♦ past, preceding ♦ rustication ♦ Spoutfish ♦ To keep good ♦ unassertive, unassuming. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "retiring": Domestic farm labor ♦ Kiss Hands ♦ multifuse igniter ♦ outgoing president ♦ past-president ♦ ROOSEVELT ♦ Sirah, SULZER. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | That's right, I'm retiring from showbiz (Saturday Night Live; writing credit: Doug Abeles; Leo Allen) I would like at this moment to announce that I will be retiring from this program in two weeks time because of poor ratings (Network; writing credit: Paddy Chayefsky) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Retiring Tatiana (2000) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | French Generals retiring on account of their health: with Lepaux presiding in the Directorial Dispensary / [James Gillray]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Ah Loy, retiring chef, shaking hands and saying good-bye to T. Gates, crew's cook, on the Presidential yacht Mayflower. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The 3rd Custer div. on the 7th of Octr. retiring and burning the forage Etc. Somewhere near Mt. Jackson. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Shopton, near Fort Madison, Iowa. Retiring a locomotive driver wheel in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway locomotive shops. The tire is heated until it expands sufficiently to be slipped onto the wheel. Contraction on cooling will hold it firmly i. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Retiring a locomotive driver wheel in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway locomotive shops, Shopton, near Fort Madison, Iowa. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Jean Paul Richter | Woman and men of retiring timidity are cowardly only in dangers which affect themselves, but the first to rescue when others are in danger. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Here and there she came to a full stop, and peeped curiously into a pool, left by the retiring tide as a mirror for Pearl to see her face in. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He had retired to the Marais only upon retiring from society, after his eighty years were fully accomplished |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Wilson admitted the retiring of the obligation |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Jamaica | Older, more skilled workers are retiring and being replaced by younger, less skilled workers. (references) |
Japan | Big business also provided lucrative "amakudari" employment for high-level bureaucrats retiring from government service. (references) | |
Qatar | This situation is gradually changing as more Qatari students go the United States for higher education and come back to replace retiring British advisors in the areas of power generation and water desalination, municipal planning and physical development plan preparation. (references) | |
Human Rights | Zimbabwe | During the year, the Chief Justice was coerced into retiring early, and a number of High Court judges resigned or retired early after being subjected to intensive government pressure and intimidation. (references) |
Political Economy | Nigeria | States with large civil service workforces have been particularly hard-hit, and have been forced to downsize by laying off or retiring workers. (references) |
COSTA RICA | This was equivalent to 20.3 percent of GDP. In addition, there was an outstanding domestic debt equivalent to USD 5,508 million, equivalent to 35.4 percent of GDP, on December 31, 2000. The Ministry of Finance has been retiring domestic debt, which is denominated in higher interest local currency, and replacing it with lower interest U.S. dollar denominated foreign debt, in an attempt to reduce the public sector deficit which was equivalent to 3.8 percent of GDP on December 31, 2000. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Retiring" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 66.67% of the time. "Retiring" is used about 450 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 66.67% | 300 | 16,755 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 32.44% | 146 | 26,107 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.44% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.22% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.22% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 450 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "retiring": retiring age ♦ retiring board ♦ retiring from ♦ retiring pension ♦ retiring room ♦ retiring to. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "retiring": retiring-places. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "retiring"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | banjë (ablution, bath, bathe, bathroom, closet, conveniences, powder room, privy, rest room, retiring room, toilet, washroom, water closet). (various references) | |
Arabic | منكمش على نفسه, خجول (abashed, ashamed, backward, bashful, chary, coy, diffident, embarrassed, mean, modest, mousey, self conscious, shamefaced, sheepish, sheep's, shrinking, shy, timid). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | стеснителен (backward, diffident, gauche, modest, mousey, self conscious, shamefaced, sheepish, shrinking, timid, unassertive), скромен (abstemious, chaste, conservative, decent, decorous, demure, frugal, humble, maidenlike, maidenly, mean, modest, obscure, quakerish, quiet, shamefaced, simple, small, unambitious, unassuming, unobtrusive, unpresuming, unpretending, unpretentious), саможив (farouche, incommunicative, recluse), сдържан (aloof, buttoned up, chary, composed, continent, coy, distant, modest, offish, remote, reserved, restrained, reticent, stand offish, taciturn, unaffable, uncommunicative, undemonstrative, undramatic, unemotional, unsociable, unsocial), резервиран (aloof, distant, inapproachable, incommunicative, offish, remote, reserved, reticent, self contained, stiff, undemonstrative). (various references) | |
Chinese | 退休 (Emeritus, retire, retired, retirement). (various references) | |
Czech | rezervovaný (aloof, booked, distant, guarded, low key, reserved, restrained, self contained, stand offish, standoffish, undemonstrative), uzavřený (cagey, cagy, closed, incestuous, pent, recluse, select, taciturn, unapproachable, withdrawn), skromný (abstemious, demure, frugal, humble, limited, lowly, modest, reserved, unassuming, unpretentious), nesdílný (reticent, uncommunicative). (various references) | |
Danish | fratrædende generaladvokat (retiring Advocate General), de afgaaende dommere kan genudnaevnes (retiring Judges shall be eligible for reappointment). (various references) | |
Dutch | de aftredende rechters zijn herbenoembaar (retiring Judges shall be eligible for reappointment), aftredende advocaat-generaal (retiring Advocate General). (various references) | |
Finnish | erovuorossa oleva. (various references) | |
French | retraité (retired, retired person), retirant, retiré (remote, retired), réservé (reserved), sortant. (various references) | |
German | zurückziehend (backtracking, retiringly, retracting, retreating, withdrawing). (various references) | |
Greek | επιτρέπεται ο επαναδιορισμός εξερχομένων δικαστών (retiring Judges shall be eligible for reappointment), απερχόμενος γενικός εισαγγελέας (retiring Advocate General). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מתבו"" (hermit, recluse, secluded, seclusive, solitary), מסת'ר (recluse), כ ף (corner, flap, limb, wing), חבא אל "כלים (diffident, hiding oneself, shy, timid). (various references) | |
Hungarian | nyugdíjba vonuló. (various references) | |
Italian | riservato (booked, classified, close, confidential, coy, discreet, distant, engaged, offish, private, reserved, secret, secretive, standoffish, undemonstrative, undercover), uscente (outgoing), schivo (averse, coy, demure, reserved, shamefaced, shy), pensionabile (pensionable), licenziamento (brushoff, discharge, dismissal, redundance, redundancy, sack, sacking, walking papers). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 就寝 (going to bed). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しゅうし" (attachment, devotion, ethics, final trial, going to bed, infatuation, moral training, morals, the whole life), しゅうみ" (going to sleep), じきょ (leaving, quitting). (various references) | |
Korean | 은퇴 (retirement). (various references) | |
Manx | nearildagh (ashamed, bashful, confused, coy, coy of girl, demure, shy), goll ass oik (outgoing). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | etiringray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | retraído (close-mouthed, stand-off, stand-offish, undemonstrative), reservado (aloof, box, cagey, chilly, close, closet, confidential, demure, distant, exclusive, freezing, incommunicative, long run, non-committal, offish, particular, qualified, repulsive, reserved, reticent, secretive, self-contained, separate, shy, special, stand-off, stand-offish, taciturn, unamenable, uncommunicative, undemonstrative), pouco expansivo (undemonstrative), pouco comunicativo (incommunicable, offish, reserved, stand-off, stand-offish, uncommunicative). (various references) | |
Romanian | retras (covert, drawn, lone, lonely, private, quiet, recluse, remote, reserved, retired, secluded, seclusive, secret, separate, sequestered, solitary, unfrequented), retragere (backing, climb down, recall, recession, refuge, regress, retire, retirement, retraction, retreat, seclusion, withdrawal), timid (bashful, coy, diffident, hesitating, maiden, maidenly, milky, mousy, pigeon-hearted, self conscious, sheepish, shy, sissy, timid, timorous), singurãtate (desolation, isolation, loneliness, retiredness, retirement, seclusion, secrecy, shadow, solitude), sfios (backward, bashful, coy, demure, faint-hearted, maiden, maidenlike, maidenly, meek, milky, mousy, self conscious, sheepish, shy, timid, timorous), pensionat (emeritus, Pensionary, superannuated), modest (cheap, demure, diffident, discreet, frugal, grave, homely, humble, humbly, low, lowly, maiden, maidenly, modest, plain, quakerish, quiet, simple, unassuming, unobtrusive, unpretending, unpretentious), izolare (apartness, cloister, closeness, insulation, isolating, isolation, loneliness, offishness, privacy, retiredness, retirement, seclusion, secrecy). (various references) | |
Russian | уборная (chic sale, closet, convenience, dressing room, lavatory, make-up room, necessary, privy, retiring room, retiring-room, washroom, water closet, water-closet, WC =water-closet). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | skroman (diffident, douce, frugal, humble, modest, self-effacing, unassuming, unostentatious, unpretending, unpretentious), povučen (aloof, coy, demure, recluse, remote, reticent, undemonstrative, unobtrusive, withdrawn). (various references) | |
Spanish | retraído (reticent). (various references) | |
Swedish | hittillsvarande, folkskygg (farouche, shy). (various references) | |
Turkish | utangaç (bashful, coy, diffident, embarrassed, gawky, mean, pudent, shamefaced, shame-faced, shy, timid, timorous), silik (insignificant, meek, weak), sıkılgan (bashful, embarrassed, self conscious, sheepish, shy, timid), mahçup (ashamed, confused, embarrassed, maidenly, mousy, pudent, shame-faced, timid), inziva (retirement, seclusion, sequestration), göze çarpmayan (conservative, inconspicuous, unobtrusive), emeklilik (pension, retirement, superannuation), emekli (old age pensioner, pensioner, retired, superannuated), çekingen (backward, bashful, coy, demure, diffident, distrustful of oneself, eunuch, faint, fainthearted, farouche, mousy, reserved, shrinking, shy, standoffish, timid, timorous, uncommunicative, unsociable, unsocial, withdrawn). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | схильний до самітності, скромний (bashful, blushing, chaste, coy, decent, demure, discreet, humble, lowly, maidenlike, maidenly, modest, nice, quiet, sedate, simple, spare, unobtrusive). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xa lánh mọi người. (various references) | |
Welsh | meudwyaidd (ascetic, hermit-like, reclusive). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "retiring": retiringly, retiringness, retiringnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Retiring" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: reairing, Regierung, reitzigi, restirring, retearing, reterrage, retireing, retyring, ritodrine, ritorni. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "retiring" (pronounced rutī"ring, rētī"ering , or rētī"ring) |
| 5 | -t ī" r i ng | tiring. |
| 4 | -ī" r i ng | acquiring, admiring, aspiring, conspiring, expiring, firing, hiring, inspiring, perspiring, quiring, rehiring, uninspiring, wiring. |
| 3 | -r i ng | appearing, adhering, adoring, airing, alluring, assuring, baring, barring, bearing, bioengineering, blaring, boring, caring, chairing, charring, cheering, childbearing, clearing, comparing, curing, daring, declaring, deploring, despairing, disappearing, domineering, during, earring, electioneering, endearing, enduring, engineering, ensuring, exploring, fearing, flaring, flooring, gearing, glaring, Goring, haring, hearing, herring, ignoring, impairing, imploring, insuring, interfering, jarring, jeering, luring, marring, maturing, ministering, mooring, nearing, obscuring, outpouring, overbearing, overhearing, overpowering, pairing, paring, peering, pioneering, poring, pouring, premiering, preparing, procuring, profiteering, racketeering, rearing, reassuring, reengineering, rehearing, repairing, restoring, roaring, scaring, scarring, scoring, searing, securing, sharing, shearing, shoring, smearing, snaring, sneering, snoring, soaring, sparing, sparring, Spearing, squaring, staring, starring, steering, stevedoring, storing, swearing, tarring, tearing, touring, uncaring, underscoring, unsparing, veering, volunteering, Waring, warring, wearing. |
| 4 | -ī" er i ng | desiring, inquiring, requiring, rewiring, spiering, transpiring. |
| 3 | -er i ng | answering, administering, altering, anchoring, angering, auguring, backfiring, badgering, bantering, bartering, battering, belaboring, beleaguering, bettering, bewildering, bickering, blistering, blundering, blustering, bolstering, bordering, bothering, brokering, butchering, capturing, catering, censoring, centering, chartering, chattering, clamoring, clobbering, clustering, cluttering, coloring, configuring, conjuring, conquering, considering, cornering, countering, covering, cowering, culturing, deciphering, delivering, devouring, diapering, dickering, differing, discovering, disfavoring, disfiguring, dismembering, dithering, doctoring, doddering, embroidering, empowering, encountering, endangering, endeavoring, entering, factoring, faltering, fathering, favoring, feathering, featuring, festering, figuring, filibustering, filtering, fingering, flattering, flavoring, flickering, floundering, flowering, fluttering, fostering, foundering, fracturing, frittering, furthering, garnering, gathering, gerrymandering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, glowering, grandfathering, guttering, hammering, hampering, hankering, harboring, hectoring, hindering, hollering, honoring, hovering, hungering, hunkering, injuring, laboring, laundering, lawyering, layering, lecturing, lettering, levering, lingering, littering, loitering, lowering, lumbering, majoring, maneuvering, manufacturing, massacring, mastering, maundering, meandering, measuring, mentoring, metering, minoring, mirroring, mitering, mongering, monitoring, mothering, motoring, murdering, murmuring, mustering, muttering, nattering, neighboring, neutering, nonmanufacturing, numbering, nurturing, offering, ordering, outnumbering, pampering, pandering, papering, partnering, peppering, perjuring, pestering, petering, philandering, picturing, pilfering, plastering, plundering, pondering, posturing, powdering, powering, pressuring, proffering, prospering, puncturing, puttering, quivering, recapturing, reconsidering, recovering, rediscovering, reentering, registering, rejiggering, remembering, rendering, reoffering, reordering, restructuring, rupturing, savoring, scampering, scattering, scouring, sculpturing, sequestering, severing, shattering, sheltering, shimmering, shivering, shouldering, showering, shuddering, shuttering, simmering, slaughtering, slithering, slobbering, slumbering, smattering, smoldering, smothering, snickering, sobering, soldering, soldiering, souring, spattering, splintering, sponsoring, sputtering, squandering, staggering, structuring, stuttering, suffering, surrendering, swaggering, sweltering, tailoring, tampering, tapering, teetering, tempering, tendering, thundering, tinkering, torturing, tottering, towering, triggering, tutoring, uncovering, unflattering, unwavering, ushering, uttering, venturing, wagering, wallpapering, wandering, warmongering, watering, wavering, weathering, whimpering, whispering, withering, wondering, Wuthering, zippering. |
| 5 | -t ī" r i ng | tiring. |
| 4 | -ī" r i ng | acquiring, admiring, aspiring, conspiring, expiring, firing, hiring, inspiring, perspiring, quiring, rehiring, uninspiring, wiring. |
| 3 | -r i ng | appearing, adhering, adoring, airing, alluring, assuring, baring, barring, bearing, bioengineering, blaring, boring, caring, chairing, charring, cheering, childbearing, clearing, comparing, curing, daring, declaring, deploring, despairing, disappearing, domineering, during, earring, electioneering, endearing, enduring, engineering, ensuring, exploring, fearing, flaring, flooring, gearing, glaring, Goring, haring, hearing, herring, ignoring, impairing, imploring, insuring, interfering, jarring, jeering, luring, marring, maturing, ministering, mooring, nearing, obscuring, outpouring, overbearing, overhearing, overpowering, pairing, paring, peering, pioneering, poring, pouring, premiering, preparing, procuring, profiteering, racketeering, rearing, reassuring, reengineering, rehearing, repairing, restoring, roaring, scaring, scarring, scoring, searing, securing, sharing, shearing, shoring, smearing, snaring, sneering, snoring, soaring, sparing, sparring, Spearing, squaring, staring, starring, steering, stevedoring, storing, swearing, tarring, tearing, touring, uncaring, underscoring, unsparing, veering, volunteering, Waring, warring, wearing. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-i-i-n-r-r-t" | |
-1 letter: igniter, tiering. | |
-2 letters: engirt, erring, ignite, ringer, tieing, tinier, tiring. | |
-3 letters: genii, inert, inter, iring, niter, nitre, reign, renig, rerig, tiger, tinge, trier, trine. | |
-4 letters: gent, gien, girn, girt, grin, grit, inti, nite, rein, rent, ring, rite, tern, tier, tine, ting, tire, trig. | |
-5 letters: eng, erg, ern, err, gen, get, gie, gin, git, ire, net. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-i-i-n-r-r-t" | |
+1 letter: interring, intriguer, rewriting, stringier. | |
+2 letters: bestirring, frittering, garnierite, gentrifier, intriguers, overtiring, prewriting, recruiting, reprinting, restriking, restriving, retiringly, retraining, retrieving, retrimming, roistering, terrifying, trailering, triggering. | |
+3 letters: cointerring, fingerprint, freewriting, garnierites, gentrifiers, interfering, overwriting, preprinting, pretraining, pretrimming, prewritings, redirecting, redshirting, refiltering, registering, reimporting, reinserting, reinterring, reiterating, remigration, reorienting, reradiating, restraining, restricting, restringing, retailoring, retrofiring, terrorising, terrorizing, trailerings, unirrigated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
