RETARDATION
Dictionary entry overview: What does retardation mean?
• RETARDATION (noun)
The noun RETARDATION has 5 senses:
1. a decrease in rate of change
2. the extent to which something is delayed or held back
3. any agent that retards or delays or hinders
4. lack of normal development of intellectual capacities
5. the act of slowing down or falling behind
Familiarity information: RETARDATION used as a noun is common.
Dictionary entry details
• RETARDATION (noun)
Meaning:
A decrease in rate of change
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
deceleration; retardation; slowing
Context example:
the deceleration of the arms race
Hypernyms ("retardation" is a kind of...):
alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)
Meaning:
The extent to which something is delayed or held back
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("retardation" is a kind of...):
delay; hold; postponement; time lag; wait (time during which some action is awaited)
Meaning:
Any agent that retards or delays or hinders
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Synonyms:
retardant; retardent; retardation
Context example:
flame-retardant
Hypernyms ("retardation" is a kind of...):
agent (an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect)
Meaning:
Lack of normal development of intellectual capacities
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
mental retardation; backwardness; subnormality; slowness; retardation
Hypernyms ("retardation" is a kind of...):
stupidity (a poor ability to understand or to profit from experience)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "retardation"):
abnormality; mental defectiveness (retardation sufficient to fall outside the normal range of intelligence)
mental deficiency; moronity (mild mental retardation)
amentia; idiocy (extreme mental retardation)
imbecility (retardation more severe than a moron but not as severe as an idiot)
Meaning:
The act of slowing down or falling behind
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
lag; slowdown; retardation
Hypernyms ("retardation" is a kind of...):
delay; holdup (the act of delaying; inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time)
