noun
- a person or thing that retards.
- Chemistry.
- any substance added to rubber to delay or prevent vulcanization.
- any substance added to delay a process.
- Building Trades. an admixture of concrete or plaster that retards its set.
noun
- a person or thing that retards
- a substance added to slow down the rate of a chemical change, such as one added to cement to delay its setting
1640s, agent noun from retard (v.). Of railway braking mechanisms from 1937.