RETARDED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does retarded mean? 

• RETARDED (noun)
  The noun RETARDED has 1 sense:

1. people collectively who are mentally retarded

  Familiarity information: RETARDED used as a noun is very rare.

• RETARDED (adjective)
  The adjective RETARDED has 1 sense:

1. relatively slow in mental or emotional or physical development

  Familiarity information: RETARDED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RETARDED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

People collectively who are mentally retarded

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

developmentally challenged; mentally retarded; retarded

Context example:

he started a school for the retarded

Hypernyms ("retarded" is a kind of...):

people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)

• RETARDED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relatively slow in mental or emotional or physical development

Context example:

providing a secure and sometimes happy life for the retarded

Similar:

backward; feebleminded; half-witted; slow-witted (retarded in intellectual development)

idiotic; imbecile; imbecilic (having a mental age of three to seven years)

moronic (having a mental age of between eight and twelve years)

cretinous (afflicted with cretinism)

delayed (not as far along as normal in development)

dim-witted; simple; simple-minded (lacking mental capacity and subtlety)

Also:

stupid; unintelligent (lacking intelligence)

Antonym:

precocious (characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude))

 Context examples 

They were alert and active, anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable with whatever, by delay or confusion, retarded that work.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

She had seen enough of her pride, her meanness, and her determined prejudice against herself, to comprehend all the difficulties that must have perplexed the engagement, and retarded the marriage, of Edward and herself, had he been otherwise free;—and she had seen almost enough to be thankful for her OWN sake, that one greater obstacle preserved her from suffering under any other of Mrs. Ferrars's creation, preserved her from all dependence upon her caprice, or any solicitude for her good opinion.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Summer passed away in these occupations, and my return to Geneva was fixed for the latter end of autumn; but being delayed by several accidents, winter and snow arrived, the roads were deemed impassable, and my journey was retarded until the ensuing spring.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Abnormalities are variable from individual to individual and may include mental retardation, retarded growth, flat hypoplastic face with short nose, prominent epicanthic skin folds, small low-set ears with prominent antihelix, fissured and thickened tongue, laxness of joint ligaments, pelvic dysplasia, broad hands and feet, stubby fingers, transverse palmar crease, lenticular opacities and heart disease.

(Down Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)