withdraw
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "withdraw", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "withdraw" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "withdraw" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
withdraw is aEnglishverb. It means: To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation. Pronounced /wɪðˈdɹɔː/. It ranks #6,644 in English word frequency. Often confused with withdrew and withdrawn.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | withdraw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /wɪðˈdɹɔː/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,644 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for withdraw is 8 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /wɪðˈdɹɔː/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,644 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for withdraw, with forms such as "iwthdraw", "wihtdraw", and "witdhraw". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "withdrew", "withdrawn", "withdrawal", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *wí From Middle English withdrawen, withdrauen (“to depart, leave, move away; (reflexive) to go away; (reflexive) to leave someone’s service; (often reflexive) to draw back or retreat (from a battlefield or dangerous place), withdraw; to abandon, … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is withdraw, spelled W-I-T-H-D-R-A-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.
- 2To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.
- 3To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.
- 4To take away or take back (something previously given or permitted); to remove, to retract.
- 5To cause or help (someone) to stop taking an addictive drug or substance; to dry out.
- 6To take (one's eyes) off something; to look away.
- 7To disregard (something) as belonging to a certain group.
- 8To remove (a topic) from discussion or inquiry.
- 9To stop (a course of action, proceedings, etc.)
- 10To take back (a comment, something written, etc.); to recant, to retract.
- 11To distract or divert (someone) from a course of action, a goal, etc.
- 12To extract (money) from a bank account or other financial deposit.
- 13Chiefly followed by from: to leave a place, someone's presence, etc., to go to another room or place.
- 14Chiefly followed by from: to leave a place, someone's presence, etc., to go to another room or place.
- 15Chiefly followed by from: to stop taking part in some activity; also, to remove oneself from the company of others, from publicity, etc.
- 16To stop talking to or interacting with other people and start thinking thoughts not related to what is happening.
- 17To stop taking an addictive drug or substance; to undergo withdrawal.
- 18Of a man: to remove the penis from a partner's body orifice before ejaculation; to engage in coitus interruptus.
Etymology
PIE word *wí From Middle English withdrawen, withdrauen (“to depart, leave, move away; (reflexive) to go away; (reflexive) to leave someone’s service; (often reflexive) to draw back or retreat (from a battlefield or dangerous place), withdraw; to abandon, desert; to go, go forth; to move; of the sea, water, etc.: to (cause to) ebb, recede, subside; to disappear; to slacken, wane; (often reflexive) to cease, stop; to desist, refrain; (reflexive) to go back on, recant; to avoid, eschew; to bring under control, contain, suppress; to curb, curtail; to delay, put off; to demur, refuse; to carry or take away, deprive of, remove; to contract, draw away or in, retract; to deny, refuse; to revoke; to withhold; to divert; to separate; to adopt, borrow, imitate”) [and other forms], from with- (prefix meaning ‘away; back’) + drawen, drauen (“to drag, pull, tow, tug, draw [and other senses]”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)); see further at with- and draw. The English word is analysable as with- + draw.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwthdraw,wihtdraw,witdhraw,withdarw,withddraw,withdraww,withdrraw,withdrwa,withhdraw,withrdaw,witthdraw,wtihdraw,wwithdraw
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for withdraw
Misspelling Variants of "withdraw"
Frequency rank: #6,644 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index: