retard

plural retards

1. A retardation; a delay.

   Synonyms: delay, hold-up, retardation

2. entertainmentA slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando.
3. datedoffensiveA person with mental retardation.

   The retard in our class needs special help.

   Synonyms: tard, imbecile, idiot, moron

4. informaloffensiveA person or being who is extremely stupid or slow to learn.

   College freshman Scott Damerow set a new world record by using his head to bust 142 eggs and he now officially holds a place in the Guinness Book of Fucking Retards.

   2013, Norm Macdonald Live, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Norm Macdonald

   1 more example

   “That's 'cause your dog is a retard,” the large woman retorted. The pit bull must have sensed the insult because it got up on all fours and started barking at the woman. Not one to back down from an interspecies fight, the prison lady stood up […]

   2007, Doug Green, No Wife No Kids No Plan, →ISBN

   Synonyms: imbecile, moron, idiot, alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard

present singular third person retards · participle present retarding · participle past retarded · past retarded

1. transitiveTo keep delaying; to continue to hinder; to prevent from progressing.

   retard the march of an army

   1 more example

   retard the motion of a ship

   Synonyms: impede, hinder, hold up, decelerate

2. transitiveTo put off; to postpone.

   to retard the attacks of old age

   1 more example

   to retard a rupture between nations

   Synonyms: postpone

3. obsoletetransitiveTo be slow or dilatory to perform (something).
4. intransitiveTo decelerate; to slow down.

   70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, retard, retard...

   2019, Airbus A350 - Landing (Retard) (YouTube), cockpit voice (actor)

   1 more example

   This application of hydraulics led Sir George Dowty to develop the wagon retarder system, which comprised small hydraulic rams mounted inside the rail. These rams could simply retard a wagon, or both retard and 'boost' or speed up a wagon by hydraulic pressure.

   2021 June 2, Michael Rhodes, “Tinsley reborn...”, in RAIL, number 932, pages 35–36

   Synonyms: decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up

5. intransitiveobsoleteTo stay back.

   Some years it [The River Nile] hath also retarded, and come far later than usually it was expected

   1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: hang back