Retardation word meaning and definition

[noun] the act of slowing down or falling behind
[noun] a decrease in speed; "the deceleration of the arms race"
[noun] lack of normal development of intellectual capacities
[noun] any agent that retards or delays or hinders; "flame-retardant"
[noun] the extent to which something is delayed or held back

\Re`tar*da"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.

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