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Glite Dictionary
🤢 To gag 🤢 A gag reflex
retch

retch

1 8.4
A sudden, uncontrolled movement that tries to make you vomit but often brings nothing up
  • noun
  • /rɛtʃ/
translation icon : arcada
  • When she stepped onto the escalator leading down to the baggage carousels, the movement almost made her retch.

Examples

  • He could barely suppress a retch at the sight of it.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • It ended the sentence with a sound like a retch.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Her back arched with each retch, then lowered again.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • "That almost provoked a laugh from Angie, or a retch.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • He didn't so much choke as retch.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • He lurches again, a full-body retch that's painful to watch.

    Blog text (14)

  • The smell of the spoiled food caused a strong retch in his throat.

  • After drinking too much, he experienced an uncomfortable retch that left him feeling queasy.

  • She felt a wave of nausea followed by a sudden retch as the foul odor hit her nose.

Synonyms

heave
vsretch
4 7.9

A sudden involuntary effort to vomit with little or no result

is mainly an effort to vomit that usually brings nothing up

Idioms

all retch and no vomit
  • Informal
9.9

A lot of loud complaining but no real action

How Forceful

vomit
  • NSFW
52 2.3
retch
1 8.4

Surface Forms

retch singular
retches plural

Etymology

Retch probably copies the sharp, gagging sound people make when they feel sick, so a retch is a sudden spasm or try 'to vomit' that often brings nothing up.