Meaning & use
retiree
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Meaning
nouncountable
Someone who has stopped working for good, usually because they have reached an age at which they live on a pension or savings.
Grammar: Has a plural: many retirees. Often follows a modifier such as a recent or a local.
Patterns
- a retiree from something
My neighbor is a retiree who spends his mornings in the garden.
The town's population includes many retirees from the nearby factory.
Discounts are offered to retirees on weekday mornings.
Word forms
| plural | retirees |
|---|
Common combinations
- a recent retiree
- As a recent retiree, she finally had time to learn the violin.
- retiree benefits
- The company cut retiree benefits to save money.
- retiree community
- They moved to a quiet retiree community near the coast.
- retiree discount
- The museum gives a retiree discount on Tuesdays.
- a retiree on a fixed income
- Rising prices hit a retiree on a fixed income especially hard.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pensioner
- Pensioner is the usual British word and stresses receiving a pension, while retiree is more common in American English.
- senior
- Senior focuses on age rather than work history, so a senior may still have a job.
Opposites
Word family
- retire verb
- to stop working permanently, or to go to bed
- retirement noun
- the time of life after stopping work, or the act of stopping
- retired adjective
- no longer working at a job
Commonly confused: retiree or retiring?
retiree vs retiring
Retiring can describe a shy person, as in a retiring nature, or someone about to leave work; it is not a person like a retiree.
Practice
My grandmother, a ______ from the post office, now volunteers at the library every week.
Choose one answer.
A retiree is someone who has permanently stopped working, matching the idea of having left the post office. A trainee, applicant or freelancer would still be working or seeking work.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “retiree”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.