retinue
/ˈɹɛ.tɪ.n(j)uː/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.63 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A group of attendants or servants, especially of someone considered important.
Example Sentences
- "the queen’s retinues"
- "And not any longer as a king did Winter appear in those streets, as when the city was decked with gleaming white to greet him as a conqueror and he rode in with his glittering icicles and haughty retinue of prancing winds, but he sat there with a little wind at the corner of the street like some old blind beggar with his hungry dog."
- "12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age."
- "Then Igor looked up at the bright sun and saw all his warriors / darkened from it by a shadow. / And Igor said to his retinue: / “Brothers and companions! It is better to be slain than taken captive. / Mount, brothers, your swift horses that we may glimpse the Blue Don.”"
Etymology
From Middle English retenue, from Old French retenue, past participle of retenir (“retain”). Doublet of ritenuto.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: retenue
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹɛ.tɪ.n(j)uː/
- British English: /ˈɹɛ.tɪ.njuː/