retraction

/riˈtrækʃən/

Other forms: retractions

When you change your mind and take back something you said previously, that's a retraction. If a politician says something offensive, he'll sometimes issue a formal retraction later.

When someone needs to withdraw an opinion or backpedal on something they've said (especially publicly), they send out a retraction. A newspaper editor might publish a retraction after a badly reported story is printed, and astronomers who discover a new star might announce a retraction after realizing it was just a smudge on the lens of their telescope. The Latin root is retractionem, "a drawing back."

Definitions of retraction

1. noun

   a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion
   synonyms: abjuration, recantation

   types:

   backdown, climb-down, withdrawal

   a retraction of a previously held position

   type of:

   disavowal, disclaimer

   denial of any connection with or knowledge of
2. noun

   the act of pulling or holding or drawing a part back
   “the retraction of the landing gear”

   type of:

   motility, motion, move, movement

   a change of position that does not entail a change of location