full retard

noun

A state of engaging in extreme levels of stupidity.

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Meanings

full retard1

nounfull retard (uncountable)
  1. derogatoryoffensiveslanguncountableA state of engaging in extreme levels of stupidity.

    They say never go full retard. America, thanks to democracy, eagerly embraced exactly that fate.

    2019, Mark Romel, The Seer of Unreality
    2 more examples

    Everyone is on both sides is going full retard about this Executive Order from Trump. No one is thinking rationally.

    2018, Joe Dixon, The Insanity Wars: Why People Are Crazier Than Ever

    "You're a real fucking character, John-O," he indicated as he began chuckling out loud seeing his friend being to perform what they both called the "full retard."

    2024, Thomas Corcoran, Six Feet from the Edge

full retard2

nounfull retard (uncountable)
  1. uncountablemachineryThe setting on a magneto when the ignition spark occurs as late as possible, just before the piston reaches top dead center.

    Interrupter set back of center at full retard, ½ inch.

    1918, Charles Brian Hayward, Automobile Ignition, Starting, and Lighting, page 155
    2 more examples

    It is characteristic of the usual magneto to give an ignition spark at a somewhat lower speed with the spark control in the full advance than in the full retard position.

    1911 December, “Intensifying the Retarded Spark”, in Ignition and Accessories, volume 1, number 3, page 85

    Briefly, the objectionable features of the magneto are that the intensity of the spark depends directly upon the speed of the magneto—that is, the hottest spark comes at the highest speeds and the thin spark at the low speeds, that there is a difference in the intensity of the spark in the rang of full retard to full advance, and that with the use of the magneto there is the extra electrical unit that must be cared for.

    1915, H.A. Minturn, “Generator-Battery Ignition”, in The American Chauffeur, page 165

Origin

From the 2008 film Tropic Thunder, in which "going full retard" is used to describe an actor growing to identify too much with the mentally subnormal character he played.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

full retard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/full%20retard

MLA

“full retard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/full%20retard. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “full retard,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/full%20retard.

Source: full retard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.