What does retener in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word retener in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use retener in Spanish.

The word retener in Spanish means hold prisoner, retain, restrain yourself, hold back, restrain. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word retener

hold prisoner

verbo transitivo (tener apresado)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
El ladrón retuvo a dos clientes como rehenes.
The thief held two clients prisoner.

retain

verbo transitivo (almacenar en la mente)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Retiene en su memoria todos los detalles del encuentro.
She holds all the details of the meeting in her memory.

restrain yourself

verbo pronominal (contenerse, dominarse)

(transitive verb and reflexive pronoun: Transitive verb with reflexive pronoun--for example, "Enjoy yourself." "They behaved themselves.")
Le dije que se retuviera, pero no pudo y explotó en furia.
She told him to restrain himself, but he couldn't and just flew off the handle.

hold back

verbo transitivo (parar el avance)

(phrasal verb, transitive, inseparable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, not divisible--for example,"go with" [=combine nicely]: "Those red shoes don't go with my dress." NOT [S]"Those red shoes don't go my dress with."[/S])
Parece que el dique improvisado retiene el lodo.
It looks like the improvised dike is holding back the mud.

restrain

verbo transitivo (contener, refrenar)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Retén tus pasiones; no permitas que te dominen.
Restrain your passions; don't let them dominate you.

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Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.