Retirement
nounThe state of having left paid employment permanently, usually in later life, or the act of doing so.
How to spell retirement
10 letters · 4 syllables
How to pronounce retirement
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does retirement mean?
- nounThe state of having left paid employment permanently, usually in later life, or the act of doing so.
Retirement in a sentence
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He is saving steadily so that his retirement will be comfortable.
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The company offered her an early retirement package last spring.
Where does retirement come from?
Language of origin: French
The word grows out of the French verb retirer, meaning 'to withdraw' or 'to pull back', which itself joins the prefix re- ('back') to tirer ('to draw or pull'). English took up 'retire' in the sixteenth century with the literal sense of drawing oneself back, often from a battlefield or from company into private seclusion. The noun 'retirement' followed soon after, at first describing any act of withdrawing or a quiet, secluded place, only later narrowing to the familiar modern meaning of leaving paid work for good. The -ment ending, also French in flavour, simply turns the action of retiring into the thing or state itself. The spelling is reassuringly regular: it is just the whole verb 'retire' with -ment bolted on, so the silent e of 'retire' is kept rather than dropped.
How the word is built
- re- (back)
- tire (from French tirer: to draw or pull)
- -ment (noun-forming suffix)
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