retreat

n

1.(all usu. of armed forces) strategic withdrawal, countermarch, volte-face, recoil, pullout, rout, evacuation, exodus, stampede, katabasis.

2. departure, flight, hegira, escape, getaway.

3. backing away, reversal, about-face, turnabout, Inf. flip-flop, backtracking, back-pedaling, retraction, disavowal.

4. receding, recession, retrocession; ebb, reflux, refluence; falling back, regression, retrogression, relapse, reversion, retrogradation.

5. retirement, withdrawal, seclusion, isolation, solitude, privacy; rustication; concealment, obscurity, exile, separation, reclusion; recess, rest, respite, sabbatical.

6. refuge, haven, asylum, shelter, sanctuary, sanctum sanctorum, ark, covert, hermitage, hideaway; cloister, monastery, friary, abbey, priory, convent, nunnery.

7. cabin, cottage, cot, hut, bungalow, shack, shanty; villa, lodge; den, lair, hibernaculum, hibernacle; nest, aerie, perch, roost; cell, study, library, Brit. snuggery.

8. fortress, fastness, stronghold, keep; dugout, bivouac.

v

9.(usu. of troops) recoil, flee, take flight, turn tail, beat a retreat; pull or drop back, give way, give or lose ground, back away or off, fall back.

10. escape, make off, cut and run, make a getaway, get clear of, take to one's heels, show a clean pair of heels, give [s.o.] the slip.

11. depart, leave, go off, withdraw; decamp, evacuate, vacate.

12. recede, slope backward, move back, retrocede, retire, ebb.