1. (n.) The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship; -- opposed to acceleration.
2. (n.) That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction.
3. (n.) 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. (n.) The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay.
Thesaurus Entries
afterthought, amentia, arrest, arrestation, arrested development, arrestment, backwardness, bind, blithering idiocy, block, blockage, blocking, bureaucratic delay, check, clogging, closing up, closure, constraint, constriction, control, cooling, cooling down, cooling off, cramp, cretinism, curb, curtailment, deceleration, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, detainment, drag, dragging, ease-off, ease-up, fixation, flagging, foot-dragging, half-wittedness, halt, hampering, hang-up, hindering, hindrance, holdback, holdup, idiocy, idiotism, imbecility, impediment, infantilism, inhibition, injunction, insanity, interdict, interference, interim, interruption, jam, lag, lagging, legal restraint, let, letdown, letup, logjam, mental defectiveness, mental deficiency, mental handicap, mental retardation, minus acceleration, mongolianism, mongolism, mongoloid idiocy, monopoly, moratorium, moronism, moronity, negativism, nuisance value, obstruction, obstructionism, occlusion, opposition, paperasserie, pause, profound idiocy, prohibition, protection, protectionism, protective tariff, rationing, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, rein, repression, reprieve, resistance, respite, restraint, restraint of trade, restriction, retardance, retardment, retrenchment, self-control, setback, simple-wittedness, simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity, slack-up, slackening, slow-up, slowdown, slowing, slowing down, slowness, slowup, squeeze, stay, stay of execution, stop, stoppage, stranglehold, stricture, subnormality, suppression, suspension, tariff wall, thought control, tie-up, time lag, wait
