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Retain vs. Surrender — What's the Difference?

Retain vs. Surrender — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Retain and Surrender

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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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