retention

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Keeping in possession

Nouns

1. retention, retaining, holding, keeping, custody, maintenance, preservation; hold, grasp, gripe, grip, clutch[es]; snare, trap. See possession, restraint, tenacity.

2. retentiveness, retentivity, memory.

3. (that which retains) fangs, teeth, claws, talons, nails, hooks, tentacles, nipper, pincer, tusk; paw, hand, finger, digit, fist, jaws; tongs, forceps, tweezers, pincers, nippers, pliers, pucellas, clasp, dog, wrench, cramp, clamp, press, chuck, vise, hand screw, pinchcock, Vise-Grip; grapnel, grappling iron or hook.

Verbs

1. retain, hold, keep, maintain, restrain, hold fast or tight, hold one's own; clinch, clench, grasp, grip, gripe, hug, hand or hold on to; save, preserve, secure, husband, reserve, store, withhold, hold or keep back, keep close, have a firm hold on, have in stock; keep on; entail, tie up, settle.

2. remember, recall, recollect, bear in mind (see memory).

Adjectives — retentive, retaining, keeping, holding, prehensile; unforfeited, undeprived, undisposed, incommunicable, uncommunicated, inalienable; unforgetting, dependable, tenacious, of good memory.

Antonyms, see relinquishment, loss.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Custody]

Syn. holding, withholding, reservation, detention; see custody 1 , maintenance 1 , preservation .

2. [Memory]

Syn. recall, recognition, recollection; see memory 1 , remembrance 1 .