- 1(formal) to bring or get something back, especially from a place where it should not be synonym recover retrieve something from somebody/something She bent to retrieve her comb from the floor. The dog retrieved the ball from the water. He bent to retrieve his hat from the mud. retrieve something The police have managed to retrieve some of the stolen money.
- 2(computing) to find and get back data or information that has been stored in the memory of a computer retrieve something from somebody/something to retrieve information from the database retrieve something The program allows you to retrieve items quickly by searching under a keyword. Wordfinderprogramcode, data, functionality, input, interface, keyword, operating system, program, retrieve, software See related entries: Computer programming
- 3retrieve something to make a bad situation better; to get back something that was lost You can only retrieve the situation by apologizing. Employers are anxious to retrieve the investment they have made in training their employees. Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘find lost game’): from Old French retroeve-, stressed stem of retrover ‘find again’.
retrieve
verbBrE BrE//rɪˈtriːv//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːv//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they retrieve BrE BrE//rɪˈtriːv//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːv//
he / she / it retrieves BrE BrE//rɪˈtriːvz//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːvz//
past simple retrieved BrE BrE//rɪˈtriːvd//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːvd//
past participle retrieved BrE BrE//rɪˈtriːvd//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːvd//
-ing form retrieving BrE BrE//rɪˈtriːvɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈtriːvɪŋ//
Computer programmingCheck pronunciation: retrieve
