Word.ws English Dictionary

retched

retched is the simple past and past participle of retch.

Meaning of retch

Verb (1)

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
    • Here he grew inarticulate with retching.1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII)
  2. (broadly, intransitive, transitive) To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.
    • […] in a couple of hours they were seized with violent retching; the contents of their stomachs were mixed with blood, mucus, and froth.1836, The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, page 462

Verb (2)

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)

  1. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To reck.

See all 4 meanings of retch

Words that rhyme with retched

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about retched

What is retched the simple past and past participle of?
Retched is the simple past and past participle of retch.

Words near retched in the dictionary

  1. retaxations
  2. retaxed
  3. retaxes
  4. retaxing
  5. retch
  6. retched
  7. retcher
  8. retchers
  9. retches
  10. retching
  11. retchings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: retched (page history and authors); retch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “retched.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/retched. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.