keep in one's mind; "I cannot retain so much information"
secure and keep for possible future use or application; "The landlord retained the security deposit"; "I reserve the right to disagree"
allow to remain in a place or position; "We cannot continue several servants any longer"; "She retains a lawyer"; "The family's fortune waned and they could not keep their household staff"; "Our grant has run out and we cannot keep you on"; "We kept the work going as long as we could"
hold within; "This soil retains water"; "I retain this drug for a long time"
the property created by the space between two objects or points
size of the gap between two places; "the distance from New York to Chicago"; "he determined the length of the shortest line segment joining the two points"
indifference by personal withdrawal; "emotional distance"
a distant region; "I could see it in the distance"
the interval between two times; "the distance from birth to death"; "it all happened in the space of 10 minutes"
a remote point in time; "if that happens it will be at some distance in the future"; "at a distance of ten years he had forgotten many of the details"
keep at a distance; "we have to distance ourselves from these events in order to continue living"
the eye unaided by any optical instrument that alters the power of vision or alters the apparent size or distance of objects; "it is not safe to look directly at the sun with the naked eye"