Meaning & use
withdrawal vs. withdraw
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Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
A word-form pair: withdraw is the action verb, and withdrawal is the noun for the act, process, or result of taking something back or out.
Grammar: Use withdraw after a subject to do the action; use withdrawal after the, a, or a preposition to name the action.
Patterns
- withdraw money
- withdraw from something
- withdrawal of something
- withdrawal symptoms
You can withdraw cash at the machine, but large withdrawals may need notice.
After the withdrawal of funding, the clinic changed its opening hours.
Common combinations
- withdraw money
- Customers withdraw money from the ATM outside the branch.
- withdraw from a course
- He had to withdraw from the course after the accident.
- withdrawal of support
- The withdrawal of support forced the project to pause.
- withdrawal symptoms
- The doctor explained that withdrawal symptoms can begin within a day.
Word family
- withdraw verb
- to remove, take back, or leave
- withdrawal noun
- the act or result of withdrawing
- withdrawn adjective
- removed from use, or quiet and reserved
Commonly confused: withdrawal vs. withdraw or deposit?
withdrawal vs. withdraw vs deposit
Deposit is the opposite banking action: money goes into an account with a deposit and comes out with a withdrawal.
Practice
Choose the grammatical sentence.
Choose one answer.
An is correct because withdrawal is the noun after made a. Options B and C wrongly use withdrawal as a verb, and option D uses the noun where the past-tense verb withdrew is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “withdrawal vs. withdraw”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.