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retention

/ɹɪˈtɛnʃən/noun

retention is spelled R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 6.5 times per million words in written English, the 9,463rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, retention means “The act of retaining or something retained” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of retention is retentions.

How many letters and syllables are in retention?

Letters9: R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-N
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.5 times per million words; the 9,463rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is retention?

Retention appears 6.5 times per million words in written English, the 9,463rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce retention?

  • /ɹɪˈtɛnʃən/

Retention has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-retention.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of retention

  • retentions plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does retention mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act of retaining or something retained.

  2. 2

    The act or power of remembering things.

  3. 3

    Memory; what is retained in the mind.

  4. 4

    The involuntary withholding of urine and faeces.

  5. 5

    The length of time a patient remains in treatment.

  6. 6

    obsoleteThat which contains something, as a tablet; a means of preserving impressions.

  7. 7

    obsoleteThe act of withholding; restraint; reserve.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA place of custody or confinement.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Retention in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrétention (the act of retaining or something retained), droit de rétention (right to retain property until a debt is paid)
GermanZurückhaltung (the act of retaining or something retained), Erinnerung, Behalten (the act or power of remembering things; memory), Verhalt (the involuntary withholding of urine and faeces)
Spanishretención (the act of retaining or something retained), retentiva (the act or power of remembering things; memory), recuerdo (a memory)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does retention come from?

From Middle English retencioun, borrowed from Latin retentiō, retentiōnis, from retentus, the perfect passive participle of retineō (“retain”) (from re- (“back, again”) + teneō (“hold, keep”)).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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