Retarder

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something which retards or slows.

    "The substance acted as a retarder to the chemical reaction because it radically changed the pH."

  2. 2
    A device for slowing down large trucks, lorries, buses, shunted railway wagons.

    "The hump cabin and its relay room are at the summit of the hump on the right-hand side, and the control tower is on the centre line of the yard between the primary and secondary retarders."

  3. 3
    A refrigerator used to slow down proofing of yeast when making dough.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bottleneckinhibitorlimiterretardant

Example

More examples

"Apparently, some trucks need a special device called a “brake retarder” in order to stop or slow down on certain road conditions."

Etymology

From retard + -er.

Related phrases

vapor retarder

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.