Retain vs. Surrender — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Retain and Surrender
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Compare with Definitions
Retain
To keep possession of; continue to have
The family sold the house but retained the land.
Surrender
To relinquish possession or control of (something) to another because of demand or compulsion
Surrendered the city to the enemy.
Retain
To keep in a particular place or condition
A library that retains the author's papers.
Plants that retain a lot of water.
Surrender
To give up in favor of another, especially voluntarily
Surrendered her chair to her grandmother.
Retain
To continue to have as a feature or aspect
Retains his good humor after all the setbacks.
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Surrender
To give up or abandon
Surrender all hope.
Retain
To keep in mind; remember
Retains the songs she learned in childhood.
Surrender
To give over or resign (oneself) to something, as to an emotion
Surrendered himself to grief.
Retain
To require (a student) to repeat a class or grade because of insufficient educational progress to advance.
Surrender
(Law) To effectuate a surrender of.
Retain
To keep in one's service or pay
Retain employees on a workforce.
Surrender
To submit to the power of another, especially after resisting; give up.
Retain
To hire (an attorney, for example) by the payment of a fee.
Surrender
The act or an instance of surrendering
The general demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort.
Retain
To hire a person for (that person's services)
Retained the best legal advice available.
Surrender
(Law) The yielding of the possession of an estate to a party with a reversion or remainder interest in the estate, or of a lease to a landlord, prior to the term's expiration.
Retain
(transitive) To keep in possession or use.
Surrender
(transitive) To give up into the power, control, or possession of another.
Retain
(transitive) To keep in one's pay or service.
Surrender
To yield (a town, a fortification, etc.) to an enemy.
Retain
(transitive) To employ by paying a retainer.
Surrender
To give oneself up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner; to submit or give in.
Don't shoot! I surrender!
Retain
(transitive) To hold secure.
Surrender
(transitive) To give up possession of; to yield; to resign.
To surrender a right, privilege, or advantage
Retain
To hold back (a pupil) instead of allowing them to advance to the next class or year.
Surrender
(reflexive) To yield (oneself) to an influence, emotion, passion, etc.
To surrender oneself to grief, to despair, to indolence, or to sleep
Retain
(obsolete) To restrain; to prevent.
Surrender
To abandon (one's hand of cards) and recover half of the initial bet.
Retain
To belong; to pertain.
Surrender
For a policyholder, to voluntarily terminate an insurance contract before the end of its term, usually with the expectation of receiving a surrender value.
Retain
To continue to hold; to keep in possession; not to lose, part with, or dismiss; to restrain from departure, escape, or the like.
Be obedient, and retainUnalterably firm his love entire.
An executor may retain a debt due to him from the testator.
Surrender
An act of surrendering, submission into the possession of another; abandonment, resignation.
Retain
To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor.
A Benedictine convent has now retained the most learned father of their order to write in its defense.
Surrender
The yielding or delivery of a possession in response to a demand.
Retain
To restrain; to prevent.
Surrender
The yielding of the leasehold estate by the lessee to the landlord, so that the tenancy for years merges in the reversion and no longer exists.
Retain
To belong; to pertain.
A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness.
Surrender
To yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession of (anything) upon compulsion or demand; as, to surrender one's person to an enemy or to an officer; to surrender a fort or a ship.
Retain
To keep; to continue; to remain.
Surrender
To give up possession of; to yield; to resign; as, to surrender a right, privilege, or advantage.
To surrender up that right which otherwise their founders might have in them.
Retain
Hold within;
This soil retains water
I retain this drug for a long time
Surrender
To yield to any influence, emotion, passion, or power; - used reflexively; as, to surrender one's self to grief, to despair, to indolence, or to sleep.
Retain
Allow to remain in a place or position;
We cannot continue several servants any longer
She retains a lawyer
The family's fortune waned and they could not keep their household staff
Our grant has run out and we cannot keep you on
We kept the work going as long as we could
Surrender
To yield; to render or deliver up; to give up; as, a principal surrendered by his bail, a fugitive from justice by a foreign state, or a particular estate by the tenant thereof to him in remainder or reversion.
Retain
Secure and keep for possible future use or application;
The landlord retained the security deposit
I reserve the right to disagree
Surrender
To give up one's self into the power of another; to yield; as, the enemy, seeing no way of escape, surrendered at the first summons.
Retain
Keep in one's mind;
I cannot retain so much information
Surrender
The act of surrendering; the act of yielding, or resigning one's person, or the possession of something, into the power of another; as, the surrender of a castle to an enemy; the surrender of a right.
That he may secure some liberty he makes a surrender in trust of the whole of it.
Surrender
The yielding of a particular estate to him who has an immediate estate in remainder or reversion.
Surrender
The voluntary cancellation of the legal liability of the company by the insured and beneficiary for a consideration (called the surrender value).
Surrender
Acceptance of despair
Surrender
A verbal act of admitting defeat
Surrender
The delivery of a principal into lawful custody
Surrender
The act of surrendering (under agreed conditions);
They were protected until the capitulation of the fort
Surrender
Give up or agree to forego to the power or possession of another;
The last Taleban fighters finally surrendered
Surrender
Relinquish possession or control over;
The squatters had to surrender the building after the police moved in
Surrender
Relinquish to the power of another; yield to the control of another
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