retiring

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈtaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəɹɪŋ

Adjective

retiring

1. introverted, liking privacy and seclusion.

   I don't really know him well, since he's so shy and retiring.

   • 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 10:

     My uncle, as I can remember, was retiring in his disposition, scarcely ever visiting any one and not more frequently receiving any visitors.

   • 1911, Theodore Dreiser, chapter LX, in Jennie Gerhardt‎:

     Lester was in the thick of social and commercial affairs; he walked in paths to which Jennie's retiring soul had never aspired.

Derived terms

• retiring room

Translations

preferring their own company, liking privacy

Bulgarian: затворен (bg) (zatvoren), необщителен (bg) (neobštitelen) Greek: απομακρυσμένος (el) m (apomakrysménos) Maori: hūnguengue, ngākau tōngā, hūnguengue

Verb

retiring

1. present participle and gerund of retire

   Today is the party for our retiring co-workers.

Noun

retiring (plural retirings)

1. retirement
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC:

     One day of those his retirings ^[sic], giving out that he was sick, his father Antigonus came on the sudden to visit him, and met a fair dainty youth coming out of his chamber.