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retch

verbnoun
Quick answer

As a verb, retch means make an unsuccessful effort to vomit. As a noun, it means an unsuccessful effort to vomit.

Meanings of retch

5 meanings

verb

  1. To make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain, as in vomiting.

  2. Eject the contents of the stomach through the mouthbody

    “After drinking too much, the students vomited”

    “He purged continuously”

    “The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night”

    Similar: vomit, vomit up, purge, cast, sick, cat
Older and rare meanings (1)

  1. obsoleteTo reck.

Alternative form of reach

noun

  1. An unsuccessful effort to vomit.

  2. An involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting

    “a bad case of the heaves”

    Similar: heave

Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).

Synonyms by meaning

All synonyms for retch →
noun: an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting
heave
verb: eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
vomitvomit uppurgecastsickcatbe sickdisgorge
verb: make an unsuccessful effort to vomit; strain to vomit
gagheave

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Nearby words

retaliationretaliatoryretardretardantretardationretardedreteretellretentionretentiveretentivenessretentivity