ENGLISH
REFERENCE

retrieve

v.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //ɹiˈtɹiv// UK //ɹɪtɹˈiːv// re·trieve Archaic

v. to find and bring something back from a place where it was kept or lost. You use this when you get information from a computer or pick up an object.

v. to recover or fetch something from a specific location; to access and extract stored data from a computer system. Transitive — requires a direct object.


SIMPLE

The dog ran to retrieve the ball from the tall grass.

CONTEXTUAL

The system allows users to retrieve their forgotten passwords by answering a few security questions.

COMPLEX

Archaeologists spent several months at the site attempting to retrieve delicate pottery fragments before the rising floodwaters could cause further erosion to the riverbank.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

Recorded in Middle English c. 1410 as retreve (altered to retrive in the 16th century; modern form is from c. 1650), from Middle French retruev-, stem of Old French retrover (“to find again”, modern retrouver), itself from re- (“again”) + trover (“to find”), probably from Vulgar Latin *tropāre (“to compose”).

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. Commonly used in technical contexts regarding data or physical recovery.

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