Withdraw or withdrawal?
withdraw is a verb meaning “To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation”; withdrawal is a noun meaning “Receiving from someone's care what one has earlier entrusted to them. Usually…”. Use withdraw as a verb and withdrawal as a noun. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) withdraw is about as common as withdrawal.
What is the difference between withdraw and withdrawal?
| withdraw | withdrawal | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation To remove (someone or (reflexive, archaic) oneself) from a position or situation; specifically (military), to remove (soldiers) from a battle or position where… | Receiving from someone's care what one has earlier entrusted to them. Usually refers to money A method of birth control which consists of removing the penis from the vagina before ejaculation |
| Example | none recorded | heroin withdrawal |
| Forms | withdraws, withdrawing, withdrew, withdrawn | withdrawals |
| Pronunciation | /wɪðˈdɹɔː/ /wɪθˈdɹɔː/ /wɪðˈdɹɔ/ | /wɪðˈdɹɔː(ə)l/ /wɪθˈdɹɔː(ə)l/ /wɪðˈdɹɔ(ə)l/ |
| In writing | 11 times per million words | 11 times per million words |
Sources: withdraw and withdrawal in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of withdraw and withdrawal
withdraw
- 1
To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation
- 2
To remove (someone or (reflexive, archaic) oneself) from a position or situation; specifically (military), to remove (soldiers) from a battle or position where they are stationed
- 3
To take away or take back (something previously given or permitted); to remove, to retract
- 4
To cause or help (someone) to stop taking an addictive drug or substance; to dry out
- 5
To take (one's eyes) off something; to look away
- 6
To disregard (something) as belonging to a certain group
- 7
To remove (a topic) from discussion or inquiry
withdrawal
- 1
Receiving from someone's care what one has earlier entrusted to them. Usually refers to money
- 2
A method of birth control which consists of removing the penis from the vagina before ejaculation
- 3
A type of metabolic shock the body undergoes when a substance (such as a drug) on which a patient is dependent is withheld
heroin withdrawal
- 4
An act of withdrawing or a state of being withdrawn
- 5
The sum of money taken from a bank account
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, withdraw or withdrawal?
withdraw appears 11 times per million words; withdrawal 11 times per million words.
withdraw 11 times per million wordswithdrawal 11 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search withdraw vs withdrawal?
“withdraw vs withdrawal” is searched about 6,600 times a month on Google and 460 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“withdrawal vs withdraw”, “withdraw or withdrawal”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.