Retract vs Abstain - What's the difference?
retract | abstain |
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.
(transitive, reflexive, obsolete) Keep or withhold oneself.
Refrain from (something); hold one's self aloof; to forbear or keep from doing, especially an indulgence of the passions or appetites.
* Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt? - Shakespeare, Richard II, II-i
(obsolete) Fast.
Deliberately refrain from casting one's vote at a meeting where one is present.
* Not a few abstained from voting. -
(obsolete) Hinder; keep back; withhold.
* Whether he abstain men from marying [sic]. -
In lang=en terms the difference between retract and abstain
is that retract is to take back or withdraw something one has said while abstain is deliberately refrain from casting one's vote at a meeting where one is present .As verbs the difference between retract and abstain
is that retract is to pull back inside while abstain is (transitive|reflexive|obsolete) keep or withhold oneself .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)