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Retreat vs Entreat - What's the difference?

retreat | entreat |

As nouns the difference between retreat and entreat

is that retreat is the act of pulling back or withdrawing, as from something dangerous, or unpleasant while entreat is .

As verbs the difference between retreat and entreat

is that retreat is to withdraw military forces while entreat is (obsolete) to treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use.

retreat

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of pulling back or withdrawing, as from something dangerous, or unpleasant.
  • * Shakespeare
    • In a retreat he outruns any lackey.
  • The act of reversing direction and receding from a forward position.
  • A peaceful, quiet place affording privacy or security.
  • * L'Estrange
    • He built his son a house of pleasure, and spared no cost to make a delicious retreat .
  • * Dryden
    • That pleasing shade they sought, a soft retreat / From sudden April showers, a shelter from the heat.
  • A period of retirement, seclusion, or solitude.
  • A period of meditation, prayer or study.
  • Withdrawal by military force from a dangerous position or from enemy attack.
  • A signal for a military withdrawal.
  • A bugle call or drumbeat signaling the lowering of the flag at sunset, as on a military base.
  • A military ceremony to lower the flag.
  • (chess) The move of a piece from a threatened position.

    • See also

    * religious retreat

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To withdraw military forces.

    • Anagrams

    * *

    entreat

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 2006 , Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books , Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0-7425-5094-0, page 236:
    • In the Muslim world, the most compelling and decisive books are those full of confessions written on the flesh of victims, and the most earnest prayers are the entreats for mercy screamed in pain and anguish at the tormentors and flesh and thought.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To treat, or conduct toward; to deal with; to use.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Fairly let her be entreated .
  • * Bible, Jer. xv. 11
    • I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well.
  • To treat with, or in respect to, a thing desired; hence, to ask earnestly; to beseech; to petition or pray with urgency; to supplicate; to importune.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I do entreat your patience.
  • * Edgar Allan Poe
    • some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door
  • To beseech or supplicate (a person); to prevail upon by prayer or solicitation; to try to persuade.
  • * Rogers
    • It were a fruitless attempt to appease a power whom no prayers could entreat .
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
    • “But I cannot persuade her to go away, my lady,” said the footman; “nor can any of the servants. Mrs. Fairfax is with her just now, entreating her to be gone; but she has taken a chair in the chimney-comer, and says nothing shall stir her from it till she gets leave to come in here.”
  • * 1937 , Frank Churchill and Leigh Harline, “One Song”, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Walt Disney:
    • One heart / Tenderly beating / Ever entreating / Constant and true
  • (obsolete) To invite; to entertain.
  • * Spenser
    • pleasures to entreat
  • (obsolete) To treat or discourse; hence, to enter into negotiations, as for a treaty.
  • * Hakewill
    • of which I shall have further occasion to entreat
  • * Bible, 1 Mac. x. 47
    • Alexander was first that entreated of true peace with them.
  • (obsolete) To make an earnest petition or request.
  • * Knolles
    • The Janizaries entreated for them as valiant men.

    Anagrams

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