retard

A case in point is a bill on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk that would retard artificial intelligence in the name of protecting public safety.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025

The giant trees resist burning thanks to the bark, up to about 30 centimeters thick at the base, which contains tannic acids that retard flames.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 1, 2023

"Going forward, we'll be able to do tests on mice to see if new molecules that stabilise mitochondrial and autophagic function can retard the disease."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 1, 2023

“Although you may retard an ignition or a fire spread for this season, what you’ve done is grown a lot more biomass to burn in the next year,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2023

To the ANC, the act was a deeply sinister measure designed to retard the progress of African culture as a whole and, if enacted, permanently set back the freedom struggle of the African people.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

If the levels of solutes increase beyond a certain range, a hormone is released that retards water loss through the kidney and dilutes the blood to safer levels.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Prior Vital Dufour, who was ordained Cardinal of the Catholic church by Pope Clement in 1313, once listed 40 of the virtues of Armagnac including: "It renders man joyous, preserves youth and retards senility."

From BBC ● May 28, 2022

Earlier, Holder posted a tweet that simply stated the law regarding the fines and imprisonment of up to six months that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face.

From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2020

We found out it preserves the cells and retards the damage.

From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2012

A ram lamb should not be used, as it retards his growth, injures his form, and, in many instances, permanently impairs his vigor and courage.

From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Robert Jennings

Based on some of the results, the team thinks microbes retarded the growth of inbreds, rather than giving the hybrids a special boost.

From Science Magazine ● Jul. 29, 2021

Supreme Court ruled that states may not execute “mentally retarded offenders.”

From Slate ● May 22, 2020

But millennials’ progress through life has been measurably retarded by the Great Recession, a two-track labor market in which many high-paying jobs require a college education and record levels of student debt.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2019

Of the four Smith brothers, one has schizophrenia; another, as an infant, was deemed “mentally retarded with autistic tendencies.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2017

Gay connected the dry cells and he advanced the gas and retarded the spark lever.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

Their opposition to transportation projects and other infrastructure, though supposedly grounded in Jeffersonian principle, was a roundabout way of retarding industrial development and ensuring that slavery did not become an economic anachronism.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025

That drove prices in Europe and Asia to all-time highs earlier this year, fanning inflationary pressure and retarding efforts by countries to switch to gas from coal to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.

From Reuters ● May 27, 2022

“The effects of withholding, delaying or retarding Golden Rice development through overcautious regulation has imposed unconscionable costs in terms of years of sight and lives lost,” Regis concludes.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 26, 2019

If an object is slid along a rough horizontal floor, it soon comes to rest because friction between it and the floor acts as a retarding force.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

I had begun to believe that the Mediterranean Diet that kept my grandmother alive against her will was also sinisterly retarding my maturity.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides