Retardation
[,riːtɑː'deɪʃən] or [,ritɑr'deʃən]
Definition
(noun.) lack of normal development of intellectual capacities.
(noun.) the extent to which something is delayed or held back.
Checker: Nicole--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship; -- opposed to acceleration.
(n.) That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction.
(n.) The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows; -- differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards.
(n.) The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay.
Editor: Melinda
Examples
- There is another possible mode of transition, namely, through the acceleration or retardation of the period of reproduction. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Adams between Baltimore and Washington, demonstrated that by sheathing the train to prevent retardation by the air, an average speed of 78. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Checker: Lowell