Other forms: retained, retaining, retains
To retain is to keep possession of something. Retain the title, retain control, retain the right to.
It is formal, and keep does the job in speech. In law, to retain a lawyer is to engage them by paying a retainer. Of information, to retain means to remember: she retains everything. Of heat or water, retain means to hold: this soil retains water. Note retention, which in schools and business means keeping people; and retainer, which is both the fee and a dental appliance.
1verbretainTo keep possession of something.
“The champion retained her title after a hard final.”
2verbholdTo hold or remember.
“I read the chapter twice, but I couldn't retain any of the dates.”
retain is a holding on.
Also accepted in games: hold
Latin retinere is re-, back, plus tenere, to hold — the same verb as in contain, maintain and tenant. Retaining something is holding it back from going.
Proto-Indo-European
*wert-
Proto-Indo-European
*ten- — to extend, stretch
Latin
retinēre
Vulgar Latin
*retino
Old French
retenir — to keep back, retain; to keep, maintain, preserve; to possess; to engage in one’s service, employ; to detain; to hold back, restrain; to remember
Middle French
retenir
Anglo-Norman
reteiner
Middle English
reteinen
English, today
retain
Built from
From Late Middle English reteinen, retein (“to continue to keep, retain; to continue to possess; to possess; to contain; to draw back, retire; to hold back, restrain; to keep in mind, remember; to take back, repossess; to appoint; to engage in one’s service, employ, hire”)retainen, retayne, reteign, reteigne, reteine, retene, retenne, reteyene, reteygn, reteygne, reteyign, reteyn, reteyne, retine, from Anglo-Norman reteiner, retenirrestenir, reteigner, reteingner, retener, retenier, retiner, Middle French retenir, and Old French retenir (“to keep back, retain; to keep, maintain, preserve; to possess; to engage in one’s service, employ; to detain; to hold back, restrain; to remember”) (modern French retenir), from Vulgar Latin retino, from Latin retinēre, the present active infinitive of retineō (“to keep or hold back, detain, retain; to hold in check, stop; to hold fast, maintain; to keep in mind, remember”) (compare Latin retineō (“to keep engaged in one’s service”)), from re- + teneō (“to grasp, hold; to hold fast, restrain; to possess; to keep in mind, remember”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ten- (“to extend, stretch”)). Christianity (“to declare (a sin) not forgiven”) is derived from John 20:23 in the Bible, in Late Latin quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt, and in Koine Greek ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται: see the 1526 quotation. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA