n. | 1. | The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; | ||||||
2. | That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction. | |||||||
3. | (Mus.) The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows; - differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards. | |||||||
4. | The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay.
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Noun | 1. | retardation - a decrease in speed; "the deceleration of the arms race" Synonyms: deceleration, slowing |
2. | retardation - the extent to which something is delayed or held back | |
3. | retardation - any agent that retards or delays or hinders; "flame-retardant" | |
4. | retardation - lack of normal development of intellectual capacities | |
5. | retardation - the act of slowing down or falling behind |