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Glite Dictionary
🎾 To get back 🧠 To recall
to retrieve

to retrieve

44 4.1
To bring a memory or fact back into your mind
  • verb
  • /rɪˈtriːv/
translation icon : recordar
  • According to ACRL, information literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.
  • retrieve information
  • retrieve previously stored information
  • retrieve the name

I have a trauma that I need to go into to retrieve parts of myself.

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Examples

  • It's often difficult to retrieve specific memories from childhood without some kind of reminder.

  • You can just click on the notes and you can retrieve that later on in the course.

  • I'm trying to retrieve the data.

    Hardwired (2009)

  • Again, our patrons will need to retrieve information in a logical and timely fashion.

    Academic text (2013)

  • With a groan, he stooped to retrieve the fallen brochure, then slipped it back into its envelope.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Also, your hippocampus consolidated the information you're learning into a lasting memory that you can consciously retrieve while you sleep.

  • When studying for the exam, I found it helpful to retrieve information by reviewing my notes.

  • The librarian suggested using keywords to help retrieve the articles I needed from the database.

Synonyms

to remember
vsto retrieve
∞ 1.0

To think about something from the past

focuses more on retrieving specific facts or recalled items mentally
to recall
vsto retrieve
∞ 2.4

Remember something from the past

is the general act of bringing memories or facts back into mind
to recollect
vsto retrieve
20 3.7

To remember something from the past

is the broader process of restoring information into the mind
to call up
vsto retrieve
11 3.2

To make a memory or image appear in your mind

is the inward action of bringing memories back without external prompting

Antonyms

to forget
∞ 1.0

Not remember something you should remember

How Easy

to remember
∞ 1.0
to retrieve
44 4.1
to recollect
20 3.7
to forget
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

retrieve infinitive
retrieved past
retrieved past participle
retrieving present participle
retrieves third person singular

Morphology

retrieve = re + trieve

The prefix 're-' suggests 'bring back' which aligns with 'recall', but the root 'trieve' is not a recognisable English base, so learners may only partially infer the meaning.

Etymology

The word retrieve comes from the parts re- 'again' and Old French trouver 'to find', so it literally means 'to find again'. That's why to retrieve a memory is to find it again inside your mind.