withdraw
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Pull back or move away or backward.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wihthdrawSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
wɪðdˈɹɔ
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.
verb
Pull back or move away or backward
transitive
To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.
Take back what one has said
transitive
To take away or take back (something previously given or permitted); to remove, to retract.
Keep away from others
intransitive
Chiefly followed by from: to leave a place, someone's presence, etc., to go to another room or place.
noun
An act of drawing back or removing; a removal, a withdrawal or withdrawing.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Pull back or move away or backward
Used this way, withdraw is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- unsay , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use withdraw
- “I need to withdraw some cash from the ATM before the trip.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A retraction of a previously held position.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A formal room where visitors can be received and entertained.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.