This is the 13637th most frequent Spanish word.
retiraba
"Retiraba" means "was removing," "was withdrawing," or "was retreating" in English, depending on context.
In this instance, 'retiraba' describes an action that was in progress, showing the use of the imperfect tense to provide background information in a narrative.
Mientras se retiraba, me dio un saludo amistoso.
As she was leaving, she gave me a friendly greeting.
Here, 'retiraba' refers to the act of removing something, reflecting its imperfect use to indicate an ongoing past action in the context of reviewing suggestions.
El jefe retiraba las sugerencias que consideraba inapropiadas.
The boss was removing the suggestions he deemed inappropriate.
Here, 'retiraba' is used in the imperfect tense to describe a habitual action of leaving or stepping away from work, indicating past actions with regular occurrence.