retardation : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: retardation	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for retardation
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
retardation n a decrease in rate of change; "the deceleration of the arms race" Synonym(s): deceleration, slowing, retardation Antonym(s): acceleration the extent to which something is delayed or held back any agent that retards or delays or hinders; "flame- retardant" Synonym(s): retardant, retardent, retardation lack of normal development of intellectual capacities Synonym(s): retardation, mental retardation, backwardness, slowness, subnormality the act of slowing down or falling behind Synonym(s): slowdown, lag, retardation
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Retardation \Re`tarda"tion\, n. [L. retardatio: cf. F. retardation.] 1. The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation* of the motion of a ship; -- opposed to {acceleration}. The retardations of our fluent motion. --De Quinsey. 2. That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction. Hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations. --Sir W. Scott. 3. (Mus.) The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows; -- differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards. 4. The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay. {Retardation of the tide}. (a) The lunitidal interval, or the hour angle of the moon at the time of high tide any port; the interval between the transit of the moon and the time of high tide next following. (b) The age of the tide; the retard of the tide. See under {Retard}, n.