noun that which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction.
2. retardation ·noun the extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding or delay.
3. retardation ·noun the act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship;
opposed to acceleration.
4. retardation ·noun the keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows;
differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards.