retirement
noun
Simple meaning
Having permanently left one's employment, now usually at reaching pensionable age.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reetyermuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɹiˈtaɪɚmənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The state of having permanently left one's employment, now especially at reaching pensionable age; the portion of one's life after retiring from one's career.
The act of leaving one's career or employment permanently.
The state of being retired from one's business or occupation
An act of retiring; withdrawal.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The state of having permanently left one's employment, now especially at reaching pensionable age; the portion of one's life after retiring from one's career.
Used this way, retirement is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Business/professional
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use retirement
- “My aunt is looking forward to her retirement next year.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
A planned community for residents who have retired from an active working life.
A planned community for residents who have retired from an active working life.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
A monthly payment made to someone who is retired from work.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Go into retirement.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.