retainers

noun

plural of retainer
1
as in servants
a person hired to perform household or personal services knights being dressed for battle by their retainers

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in employees
one who works for another for wages or a salary lifelong civil service retainers

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of retainers The retainers were with two law firms, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and the Law Offices of Young, Minney & Corr, and financial adviser Arch + Beam Global. — Chaewon Chung, Sacbee.com, 15 Oct. 2026 The remains of these servants, or retainers, were first excavated from the funerary complexes at Abydos, eastern Egypt, which date from around 3000 BC, in the 1920s. — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026 This particular set of remains—46 crania stored at Cambridge University—came from the Umm el-Qaab cemetery, which contains subsidiary burials presumed to be retainers of deceased First Dynasty rulers. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 5 Oct. 2026 Mark Lewis, Founder of Netalico, an e-commerce agency specializing in migrations, CRO, and retainers for mid-market and enterprise brands. — Mark Lewis, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026 People have retainers for their lawyers. — Ashleigh Fields, The Hill, 21 May 2026 How To Improve Your Soil's Moisture Retention A short-term solution for small areas or containers with hydrophobic soil is a commercial wetting agent, often called water retainers or penetrants. — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 23 Apr. 2026 Wearing a night guard can help support better sleep, healthier teeth and reduced jaw discomfort and custom retainers help maintain alignment and protect your smile. — Tory Johnson, ABC News, 26 Mar. 2026 Regulars get the same attendant from visit to visit and treat them like family retainers. — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for retainers
  1. servants
  2. employees
  3. workers
Noun
  • Banks paid millions of dollars by today’s standards to bring along a botanist, artists, servants, his greyhound and scientific equipment.
    — Saar Shahar, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The remains of these servants, or retainers, were first excavated from the funerary complexes at Abydos, eastern Egypt, which date from around 3000 BC, in the 1920s.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of servants
Noun
  • The program—announced at the Ai Everything conference in the capital–will give government employees hands-on experience with tools such as ChatGPT, Codex, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    — Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Keith David, Macon Blair, Killer Mike, Cody Lightning, Siena East, and Michael Hitchcock all return as some of Lee’s Tulsa-area buddies, employees, and resentful acquaintances.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of employees
Noun
  • As part of orchestrating this project, Simon was also involved in securing visas for the various international performers, encountering in the process the uneven access to travel for cultural workers across classes, nationalities, and milieus.
    — Stephanie Wambugu, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The circumstances and cultural details may vary, but these unequal power dynamics between families and their domestic workers exist everywhere, to different degrees.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of workers

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Cite this Entry

“Retainers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retainers. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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