The act or process of delaying or slowing down the progress or development of something. The retardation of the project was due to unforeseen technical difficulties.
A decrease in speed or rate of progress. The car's retardation was noticeable as it approached the traffic light.
A condition of being mentally or physically slower in development than is typical. The child was diagnosed with a form of mental retardation that required special education services.
The amount by which a phenomenon or signal lags behind another, especially the phase difference between waves. Optical birefringence arises from the phase retardation between orthogonal components of light.