Retrocede

verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To grant back. transitive

    "to retrocede a territory to a former proprietor"

  2. 2
    To go back. intransitive

    "Hospitals retrenched in the '30s while the general practitioners retroceded into a bygone era."

Synonyms

All synonyms
backbackslidecockdeclinedie awaydiminish

Example

More examples

"to retrocede a territory to a former proprietor"

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin retrōcēdere, from retrō- (“back, backward”) + cēdere (“to go, go back, give, return, etc.”). Equivalent to retro- + cede.

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