·noun That which retards; an obstacle; an Obstruction.
II. Retardation ·noun The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay.
III. Retardation ·noun The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship;
— opposed to acceleration.
IV. Retardation ·noun The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows;
— differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards.