Definition of "retention" []

• The act of retaining. (noun)
• The condition of being retained. (noun)
• Capacity or power of retaining. (noun)
• An ability to recall or recognize what has been learned or experienced; memory. (noun)
• Something retained. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The most critical step in retention is the analysis in which an informed judgment is made as to whether or not the communications or other data seized is foreign intelligence information."
• "In the third quarter, when the financing company was hard hit by the freeze in credit markets, it paid executives $28 million in what it called retention payments to make up for the shriveled value of their long-term incentive plans."
• "Data retention is a crucial element of surveillance."