retentive

Borrowed from Middle French rétentif, from Old French retentif, from Medieval Latin retentivus, from Latin retentus.

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɛntɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

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retentive (comparative more retentive, superlative most retentive)

1. Having power to retain

   a retentive memory

   a soil that is highly retentive of rainwater

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit.

2. (slang, apocope) anal-retentive

retentive (plural retentives)

1. (obsolete) That which retains or confines; a restraint.

• “retentive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

retentive

1. feminine plural of retentivo

• trivenete