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What is "recede"

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recede
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
recede
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a receding chin (=sloping backwards in an unattractive way)
▪ Half the boys in my college seemed to have receding chins.
receding (=gradually disappearing, so that it is high on your forehead)
▪ The man was in his late thirties, and his hair was receding slightly.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
background
▪ What is misleading is the idea that Mr Bush will be able to recede into the background.
distance
▪ I stood on the deck, watching the two spires of Dun Laoghaire receding into the distance.
▪ Note the perspective of clouds and colour in the sky; how the clouds recede in distance nearer to the horizon.
▪ Hoomey and Nails heard its engine recede into the distance.
hair
▪ Last year he noticed his light brown hair was receding fast.
▪ His reddish blond hair receded from his forehead.
▪ The skin was healthily tanned and the hair thin but not receding, and slicked back from the front.
▪ Joe stood at five feet, nine inches, and his hair was receding markedly from his forehead.
▪ His hair is receding, too.
hairline
▪ The hairline was receding, the eyes were tired.
waters
▪ As the waters recede, their spawning tunnels can be seen in serried rows in the flood bank.
▪ No astronomer was needed to tell the populace what operations to perform once the waters had receded.
▪ Even when the waters recede, the town will count on aid from the World Food Programme for at least three months.
▪ Until the waters recede, California officials said they can not assess damage.
▪ After the waters recede, extensive lagoons and marshes are formed as the ground gradually dries out.
■ VERB
begin
▪ Elsewhere in Northern California the surging rivers that have forced evacuation of more than 100, 000 people began to recede.
seem
▪ The roses swarmed in the heat-haze, seeming to flow and recede, seeming to peak and slide like waves.
▪ He seemed to recede into a world of his own.
▪ In fact, Hugh had seemed to recede further and further into the distance with every step she took.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ As the threat of attack receded, village life returned to normal.
▪ As the threat of nuclear war receded, other things began to worry us.
▪ Flood waters finally began to recede in November.
▪ She walked away, her footsteps receding down the hall.
▪ Since Donald lost his job, the hopes of our buying a house have receded even further.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Each image is a complete story often told through a dense, receding picture space.
▪ In a time of receding income, the income tax reduces itself automatically.
▪ Once that moment of power recedes, control has to be traded in for speed and nimbleness.
▪ Peripheral awareness becomes progressively blurred as it recedes from the foveal zone and adjusts to an overall equilibrium.
▪ There was not even time for sentimental looks backward at the receding coast of the homeland.
▪ This time the wave didn't recede, this time it built, went on building, higher and higher.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Recede

Recede \Re*cede"\ (r[=e]*s[=e]d"), v. t. [Pref. re- + cede. Cf. Recede, v. i.] To cede back; to grant or yield again to a former possessor; as, to recede conquered territory.

Recede

Recede \Re*cede"\ (r[-e]*s[=e]d"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Receded; p. pr. & vb. n. Receding.] [L. recedere, recessum; pref. re- re- + cedere to go, to go along: cf. F. rec['e]der. See Cede.]

  1. To move back; to retreat; to withdraw.

    Like the hollow roar Of tides receding from the insulted shore.
    --Dryden.

    All bodies moved circularly endeavor to recede from the center.
    --Bentley.

  2. To withdraw a claim or pretension; to desist; to relinquish what had been proposed or asserted; as, to recede from a demand or proposition.

    Syn: To retire; retreat; return; retrograde; withdraw; desist.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
recede

early 15c., from Middle French receder, from Latin recedere "to go back, fall back; withdraw, depart, retire," from re- "back" (see re-) + cedere "to go" (see cede). Related: Receded; receding.

Wiktionary
recede

vb. 1 To move back; to retreat; to withdraw. 2 To cede back; to grant or yield again to a former possessor. 3 To take back.

WordNet
recede

  1. v. pull back or move away or backward; "The enemy withdrew"; "The limo pulled away from the curb" [syn: withdraw, retreat, pull away, draw back, pull back, retire, move back]

  2. move back and away from; "The enemy fell back" [syn: fall back, retire] [ant: advance]

  3. retreat [syn: fall back, lose, drop off, fall behind] [ant: gain]

  4. become faint or more distant; "the unhappy memories of her childhood receded as she grew older"

Usage examples of "recede".

But when his pure and proper divinity had been established on the ruins of Arianism, the faith of the Catholics trembled on the edge of a precipice where it was impossible to recede, dangerous to stand, dreadful to fall and the manifold inconveniences of their creed were aggravated by the sublime character of their theology.

Now that she has learned her family truths, her ailurophobia seems to have receded.

If Anele desired her protection, he would wait for her when his distress receded.

As the shadows receded amid a fragrant waft of incense smoke, the Master used a second key to unlock the second of the aumbries, from which he brought out a stoppered flask of alabaster and a miniature silver chalice.

His hand went in through the blackboard, following the swift line he had been drawing, and which had receded in.

Only when it had receded far to the south did Bozo emerge from his place of concealment.

He looked around curiously, smiled a hello at Cranston and receded into the background as Brodder and Owen entered.

The little vessel continued to beat its way seaward, and the ironclads receded slowly towards the coast, which was hidden still by a marbled bank of vapour, part steam, part black gas, eddying and combining in the strangest way.

As their footsteps receded down the jetty, Steve Cowan got to his feet.

To those watching, he simply seemed to enter the middle distance, dimmish, and recede until the eye could no longer fix on his point.

For one moment all the shouts and the dinning of hooves receded into a blur of sound.

These disappearances are directly tied to the loss of marine influences as the epicontinental seas receded from the region.

In spite of the throbbing exertions of the engines of the little paddle-boat, and the pouring foam that her wheels flung behind her, she receded with terrifying slowness from this ominous advance.

Placido Geist sat his horse in the flat morning sunlight, the tableland receding to an infinite weary distance even as the horizon appeared to draw closer.

Greg Grom was thinking these things as the muffled sounds of the violently self-destructing Lincoln Continental reached him and then receded.