verb · neutral
retain
/rɪˈteɪn/re·TAIN
Band 6-7task2speaking
to keep something or continue to have something
Examples
“Good notes help students retain information for exams.”
“The firm failed to retain key staff after the merger.”
“Authors often retain the copyright to their work.”
Band 8 sentence
“To maintain quality, the university offered competitive packages to retain top researchers.”
Collocations
- retain information
- retain control
- retain staff
Word family
retain verbretention noun
Common mistakes
She retained of her job→She retained her job
keeped / retainied→kept / retained
Say it for a higher band
5keep→6maintain→7+retain
Synonyms
keep
Easily confused
keep
“Please keep this receipt for your records.”
Related words
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In Sublist 7
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