Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

ritracciare

English translation:

redefine

Added to glossary by JRM (X)
Jan 11, 2009 14:20
15 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Italian term

ritracciare

Italian to English Other Government / Politics
Not a word I've found in any dictionary so far, though I suspect its a variant of rintracciare. The context is a commentary on America's geopolitical position post-Bush. The surrounding text is:

Bush ha lasciato dietro di sé terra bruciata. Il suo doppio mandato ha disastrosamente concluso il ventennio del dopo-guerra fredda. Un arco di tempo nel quale l’America non ha voluto ritracciare il suo posto nel mondo, cullandosi nel mito della superpotenza solitaria

The sense I get is that it means something like "slip back", "fall back" or "lose ground"

Thanks in advance for any help.

Discussion

JRM (X) (asker) Jan 12, 2009:
the basis for my doubts on this term I have found this word used widely online in the expression "il mercato ha ritracciato"

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q="il mercato ha ritrac...

It seems to suggest "fall back in position" or possibly even "shrink", perhaps literally "retrace its steps backwards".

And here's another example in the context of oil prices:

http://www.soldionline.it/soldinews/cambi-oro-commod/petroli...

Has anyone else ever come across this usage before? Italian mother-tongues, what say you?

Proposed translations

+3
4 mins
Selected

redefine

it isn't a typo.

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Note added at 19 hrs (2009-01-12 10:18:18 GMT)
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"tracciare" is very simple. "ritracciare" is equally straightforward to translate (con la dovuta sapienza del traduttore)
Note from asker:
Didn't think it was a typo guys - sorry if I gave that impression.
Peer comment(s):

neutral simon tanner : Hi Tom; agree it's not a typo
1 min
yep
agree Emanuela Galdelli : yes, it's "ridefinire la propria posizione / il proprio ruolo"
1 hr
thanks Emanuela, I think so too.
agree blattanzi
1 hr
agree Sarah Cuminetti (X)
3 days 1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Tom for the benefit of your "sapienza". Thanks to everyone else who suggested answers."
4 mins

reposition/adjust/rethink

my first thought was a typo for rintracciare, but on further reflection don't think so.

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Note added at 7 mins (2009-01-11 14:27:36 GMT)
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I would probably go for 'rethink', to be honest. If you used 'reposition', you would obviously need to cut out 'posto'
Something went wrong...
8 mins

trace again

elementare ma plausibile....
in the sense of delineate....trace....mark

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Note added at 11 min (2009-01-11 14:31:43 GMT)
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I read it as ... America did not want to underline its position again.... it's the 'again' of 'ri-'
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs

cut out .... a new

... didn't want to cut a out a new place for itself in the world... This is how I would do it, using "new" to translate the "ri"
Peer comment(s):

agree Gina Ferlisi : surely is :)
11 mins
Thank you Gina.
Something went wrong...
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