When searching for ideas, I sometimes run across words here or there that stir my imagination or provoke thought. Retreat is one of those words. Retreats as a noun a safe places to hide or withdraw from the routines of life as we know it. They are a hiding place, a sanctum, a private place, a secret place, a safe house, a cloister. As a verb, to retreat means to withdraw from things which may be hazardous, uncomfortable, giving up on a position, or simply taking a period of seclusion and solitude as a means of reassessing what needs to change. There can be a number of reasons for a retreat – a writer’s retreat, an academic research retreat, a spiritual retreat, a retreat from battle. The Thesaurus lists a few synonyms that offer subtle variations on this word: recession, departure, sanctum, decline, hiding place, surrender, seclusion, hideaway, recoil, assylum, sound a retreat, quit, or pull back.
Recession (noun)
A recession is an act of withdrawing. In business, recessions are extended declines in business activities along with an economic downturn or stagnation. In religious ceremonies, a recession or recessional is the part of the ceremony when the clerics or ministers recede down the aisle at the end of the service. Synonyms include, retirement, withdrawing, recessional, retraction, fleetingness.
Departure (npim)
A departure is the act of leaving, of starting out on a trip, or of takint a new course ofaction. It is a divergence from the plan of action or the established rule. Synonyms include: leaving, going, parting, exit, walk out, egress, removal, evacuation, abandonment, desertion, escape, flight, getaway, exodus, mass migration, defection, voting with one’s feet.
Sanctum (noun)
A sanctum is a holy place, a sacred space, a private place that is free from intrusion by others. In Judaism, the Holy of Holies is the innermost shrine of a tabernacle and temple, a sanctum. Synonyms: private chamber, sanctum sanctorum, Holy of Holies, den, closet, cabinet.
Decline (noun)
Decline can be a verb meaning to politely refuse. But It can also be a downward slope, a descent, the act of condesention, the act of gradual deterioration, the sun sinking in the sky, the process of declining or deterioation, a downward movement, the period when somehting appraches an end. Synonyms: subsidence, slump, lapse, drop, collapse, crash, dwindling, waning, downturn, remission, fall, plunge, dive, decline and fall, decrescendo, diminuendo, deceleration, slowdown.
Hiding Place (noun)
Hiding places consist of any place that is apt for hiding things or people, especially if you want to get away from others. Synonyms: secret passage, covert way, back way, back door, escape route, escape hatch, secret staricase, back stairs, underground, underground route, underground railroad.
Surrender (noun)
Surrendering is the acto of relinquishing possession or control of something, the act of letting someone else win or have their way, the acto fo givving up or abandoning a stance, resignation, the act of giving yourself over to an enemy (in war), the delivery of a prisoner or fugitive from justices. Synonyms: capitulation, renuciation, giving over, abandomenment, relinquishment, giving up, giving in, backing off.
Seclusion (noun)
Seclusion is the act of secluding, the state of being secluded or alone, a place or home that is secluded or set in a place apart from others. Synonyms: recluse, loneer, soltiary, shut-in, invalid, cloistered, hermit, closet cynic, stay-at-home, homebody, isolationist.
Hideaway (noun)
A hideaway is an isolated or secluded place, a hideout, or a place of concealment. Synonyms: cell, hidey-hole, lair, sanctum, inner sanctum.
Recoil (noun)
Recoiling is the act of springing back or shrinking back either from shock, fear, or repugnance. Recoil describes the backward action of a firearm when it is fired. Synonyms: fallback, pullout, pullback, contingency plan, backup plan, evasion, avoidance, sidestepping, flinch wince, cringe, dodge, duck.
Assylum (noun)
Assylums offer a place of protection and safety, a shelter for criminals, debtors or people escaping political situations. Assylum is the protection or shelter offered by a sanctuary.It is the immunity from extradition granted by the government of one country to anyone escapint persecution by the government of another country. Synonyms: home, poorhouse, alshouse, hospice, rest home, nursing home, sailor’s snug harbor, foster home, halfway house, retirement village, retirement community.
Sound a Retreat
Historically, armies used to bring along a bugler to blow certain calls during the battle because the the bugle was about the only thing that could be heard above the din of the battlefield. The bugler played several tunes that were code for whatever command the officer in charge wanted to give is troups. The soldiers needed to know what each of the tunes meant. In the case of the “sound a retreat” tune, it meant that the soldiers were giving up the good fight (as gracefully as possible) and allowing the other side to win. Synonyms: regress, go backwards, recede, return, revert, retrograde, pull back, jerk back, reach back, fall behind, fall astern, lose ground, slip back, backslide, lapse, relapse.
Quit (verb)
To quit means to depart from or to leave the company of , to give up or relinquish a job, to abandon, put aside or forsake something, to cease or discontinue some course of action. As an adjective it means to be absolved of a duty or obligation, to be free of future debt on some account. Synonyms: quit, vacate, evacuate, abandon, desert, turn one's back on, walk away from, leave to one's fate, leave high and dry, desert a sinking ship, withdraw, beat a retreat, retire, remove, abscond, disappear, vanish, bow out, make one's exit, jump ship.
Pull Back (verb)
Pulling back means to withdraw or retreat from a place, people, or events. Synonyms: draw back, recoil, fade, fall back, reel back, hang back, shrink back, shrink, flinch, wince, cringe, blink, shy, stay away, turn aside, evade, avoid, sidestep, weasel out, cop out, dodge duck, swerve, sheer off, give a wide berth.
Some of these forms of retreat are voluntary while others are involuntary. Most are performed for personal reasons. In fiction, characters can make use of any one of these forms of retreat. In non-fiction, retreats can describe what’s going on in the place or person you are writing about or to describe events and places. For the writer (nonfiction or fiction), a retreat can become the necessary reading, writing media break that renews the writer's spirit. On the other hand, it can become a group writer's retreat in which the writers give each other feedback and help each other generate ideas. Either way, a retreat can be a magnificent thing.
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