"retreating" in the verb sense
1. withdraw, retreat, pull away, draw back, recede, pull back, retire, move back
pull back or move away or backward
"The enemy withdrew"
"The limo pulled away from the curb"
2. retreat
move away, as for privacy
"The Pope retreats to Castelgondolfo every summer"
3. retrograde, retreat
move back
"The glacier retrogrades"
4. retreat, pull back, back out, back away, crawfish, crawfish out, pull in one's horns, withdraw
make a retreat from an earlier commitment or activity
"We'll have to crawfish out from meeting with him"
"He backed out of his earlier promise"
"The aggressive investment company pulled in its horns"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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