retracted
adj.describing something that has been pulled back or taken away, like a statement that was wrong or a cat's claws.
adj.withdrawn or pulled back into a body or a larger whole; formally disavowed or rescinded. Often functions as a participial adjective describing statements or physical appendages.
“The cat sat with its claws retracted.”
“The journal marked the article as retracted after the researchers discovered a major error in their data.”
“The landing gear remained only partially retracted, forcing the pilot to declare an emergency and return to the airfield for a manual inspection.”
Often follows a linking verb like 'remain' or 'be', or modifies a noun directly as a participial adjective.
“The drug has not been shown to be effective as a Covid-19 treatment, and the paper was ultimately retracted for ethical and scientific reasons in 2025.”
“The scale is massive: in 2023, Hindawi, a now defunct journal brand owned by major publisher Wiley, retracted more than 8,000 articles .”