Retract vs Redact - What's the difference?
retract | redact |
To pull back inside.
(ambitransitive) To draw back; to draw up.
To take back or withdraw something one has said.
* Bishop Stillingfleet
* Granville
To take back, as a grant or favour previously bestowed; to revoke.
To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while releasing the remainder.
(legal) To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.
To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put in shape (matter for publication); to edit.
* {{quote-book
, year= 1829
, year_published=
, author= Robinson Hurst
, by=
, title= The Monthly Review
, url=
, original=
, chapter= Memoires de , Chéf de la Police de Sureté jusq' en 1827; aujourd' hui Proprietaire et Fabriquant de Papier à St Mandé.
, section=
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher= G. Henderson
, location= London
, editor=
, volume= 12
, page= 278
, passage=
}}
(rare) To draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc.
* {{quote-book
, year= 1837
, year_published=
, author=
, by=
, title=
, url= http://books.google.com/books?id=DfIsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162
, original=
, chapter= Mercury de Breze
, section=
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher=
, location= New York
, editor=
, volume= 2
, page= 162
, passage= The Oath is redacted ; pronounced aloud by President Bailly, — and indeed in such a sonorous tone, that the cloud of witnesses, even outdoors, hear it, and bellow response to it.
}}
(obsolete) To bring together in one unit; to combine or bring together into one.
* {{quote-book
, year= c1475
, year_published= 1869
, author=
, by=
, title= Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century.
, url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AHB1341.0001.001/2739:11
, original=
, chapter=
, section=
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher= Longmans, Green, and Company
, location= London
, editor=
, volume= 2
, page= 273
, passage= Octauianus Augustus, his successor and nevewe, redacte in to oon monarchy the realmes of alle the worlde.
}}
(obsolete) To gather or organize works or ideas into a unified whole; to collect, order, or write in a written document or to put into a particular written form.
* {{quote-book
, year= c1475
, year_published= 1871
, author=
, by=
, title= Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century.
, url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AHB1341.0001.001/2953:12
, original=
, chapter=
, section=
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher= Longman & Company
, location= London
, editor=
, volume= 3
, page= 251
, passage= yere, laborede and founde the arte of logike; þe rewles of whom and causes of þe begynnenge Plato fyndenge encreasede hit moche; but Aristotille redacte hit in an arte.
}}
(obsolete, rare) To insert or assimilate into a written system or scheme.
(obsolete, rare) To bring an area of study within the comprehension capacity of a person.
(obsolete) To reduce to a particular condition or state, especially one that is undesirable.
* {{quote-book
, year= 1595
, year_published= 1833
, author=
, by=
, title= Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland: Comp. from the Original Records and Mss., with Historical Illustrations
, url= http://books.google.com/books?id=msouAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA352
, original=
, chapter=
, section= ii
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher= William Tait
, location= Edinburgh
, editor=
, volume= 1
, page= 352
, passage=
}}
(obsolete) To reduce something physical to a certain form, especially by destruction.
* {{quote-book
, year= 1554
, year_published= 1855
, author= Dean Thomas Guild, Monk of Newbattle
, by=
, title= The Bannatyne Miscellany; Containing Original Papers and Tracts, Chiefly Relating to the History and Literature of Scotland
, url= http://books.google.com/books?id=1lQJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA72
, original=
, chapter= Diploma of Thomas, Bishop of Orkney and Zetland, and the Chapter of Kirkwall, Addressed to Eric King of Norway, Respecting the Genealogy of William Saint Clair, Earl of Orkney.
, section=
, isbn=
, edition=
, publisher= Ballantyne and Company
, location= Edinburgh
, editor=
, volume= 3
, page= 72
, passage=
}}
As verbs the difference between retract and redact
is that retract is to pull back inside while redact is to censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while releasing the remainder.retract
English
Verb
(en verb)- An airplane retracts its wheels for flight.
- Muscles retract after amputation.
- A cat can retract its claws.
- I retract all the accusations I made about the senator and sincerely hope he won't sue me.
- I would as freely have retracted this charge of idolatry as I ever made it.
- She will, and she will not; she grants, denies, / Consents, retracts , advances, and then flies.
- (Woodward)
Synonyms
* take back * withcall * withdrawSee also
* unsay * unspeakredact
English
Verb
(en verb)- The military will redact the document before releasing it, blacking out sections that are classified.
- The names and email addresses of the users were redacted from the public data.