Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Retroactive: retro pay.
- adj. Involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past; retrospective: "As is often the case in retro fashion, historical accuracy is somewhat beside the point” ( New York Times).
- n. A fashion, decor, design, or style reminiscent of things past.
Wiktionary
- adj. of, or relating to the past, past times, or the way things were
- adj. affecting things past; retroactive, ex post facto
- n. something, such as a fashion, from the past; a retro trend
- n. a retrorocket
Etymologies
- From French rétro. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“And in case you weren't looking, our stadium ushered the term retro into the baseball lexicon.”
“Finally, here's a band that won't be offended when journos use the word "retro" to describe their music.”
“Their sound is post-punk/new-wave or what I called retro new-wave rock.”
“I'm also generally supportive of the whole trend of sports teams having a game or two in "retro" jerseys.”
“Already this spring, the "retro" dress has made its way down the catwalks -- pretty, more feminine dresses in retro types of colorful fabric.”
“It's kind of like they're doing it in retro terms.”
“They also wanted to educate homeowners about sustainability, so they recorded all the steps involved in retro-fitting shipping containers to construct the home and shared it with Jetson Green.”
“I suppose trains still hold a certain retro mystique, but they are basically a backwards 19th century technology.”
“First, part of this fund would be focused on reducing the local impacts of greenhouse gas co-pollutants by investing in retro-fitting equipment, clean energy technologies, and "greening" efforts -- all of which could create new employment opportunities for local residents.”
The Huffington Post: Rachel Morello-Frosch: Make a Mess, Clean It Up
“I was in retro heaven, but was not sure what to do with it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘retro’.
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prefix (regular, compound, hyphenate)
cool prefixes to add to anything (noun, verb, adjective) to create a word, compound word or 2 word phrase.
examples: hyper = hypercharge ; phantom = phantom charge.
go...uber, super, hyper, phantom, mega, ultra, quantum, maxi, poli, exo, extra, multi and 25 more...
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Modern Bolleaux
things we don't need
core competency, not yet competent, pundit, date night, me time, users, papped, pappees, outreach worker, working du, sustainable initi..., diversity and 4 more...
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Prefixes
a-, ab, abs, ambi, ante, anti, aqu, aqua, arch, astro, auto, bene and 71 more...
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THE WAY WE DRESS
These Vocabulary will learn adjectives that describe fashion choices and personal style in clothes.
chic, classic, conservative, elegant, fashionable, flashy, formal, frumpy, functional, funky, quirky, retro and 20 more...
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Funny Words
gerbil, spleen, regurgitate, crevis, retro, orangutan, jiggly, ear, tart, pickle, fizzle, kapow and 4 more...
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retro-
denoting backward or reciprocal action; denoting location behind
retrogression, retrosternal, retrogene, retrograde, retro, retroflex
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
chefjulianin's Words
high, ice, recipe, bear, bare, lady, food, identity, sudden, spooky, away, cook and 142 more...
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Fun with Apocopes
Words created by removing the end of a longer or original word. See also Fun with Aphesis.
abs, ad, bio, veg, veggie, tux, auto, bike, carbs, pecs, bro, sis and 186 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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kant's Words
mandrágora, doppelganger, sinestesia, baladí, adriático, chanson, correveidile, angster, dèja vu, otredad, grasshopper, republic and 1074 more...
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NASA
A place for NASA-related stuff, from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, etc.
faithful shepard, lunar module, command service m..., trajectory, moon shot, apollo, mercury, gemini, skylab, viking, velcro, tang and 103 more...
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Jacqueline's Words
glittery, horny, amazing, wanderlust, forlorn, lustily, nonchalant, cool, passive, submissive, roundabout, carousel and 558 more...
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Love
I abosolutly posotutly love all the words in this list.
strange, soccer, totally, like, radical, awesome, retro, funky
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Rocketeer's Words
defenestrate, shutterbug, antique, periscope, dogma, peculiar, eccentric, banana, apple, pear, cherry, photograph and 189 more...
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TBH
Life is timshel negentropy.
collective noun, terms of venery, tramp stamp, snot, polish, snotty, smartass, remark, shitload, pun, champion, trigger and 75 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for retro.
chained_bear In NASA control rooms, short for Retrofire Officer (used during Apollo missions). Jul 24, 2009
heidikraut I read blogs where retro is bandied around to describe things that my mum threw out because they were old rubbish. Clearly I don't have any future in style - which pleases me. Jun 14, 2009
yarb I've got no problem with retro fashion, except that it's not taken far enough. To dress, dance, discourse like a Victorian, say, or a Phoenician, or a Jute - that's stylish. But pretending it's the 1980's is a bit sad, and not at all original. Jun 9, 2009