Collocations for retain - verb

nonetheless, still, yet
no longer
somehow
Despite the decay the mosque somehow retained a profound grandeur.

successfully
He has successfully retained his position as national president of the society.

largely
Her new music largely retains the distinctiveness of the old.

be eager to, be keen to (esp. BrE), hope to, want to, wish to
attempt to, fight to, seek to, struggle to, try to
He struggled to retain control of the situation.

be unlikely to
be likely to
manage to
help (to)
be allowed to, be entitled to (BrE), have the right to
He was allowed to retain his parliamentary seat. (BrE)
The immigrants have a right to retain their language.

be important to
fail to

as
The president retained her as his chief adviser.

Retain is used with these nouns as the object:
ability, affection, air, allegiance, appeal, attorney, aura, autonomy, ball, championship, character, charm, composure, confidence, control, copyright, counsel, credibility, crown, customer, dignity, dominance, domination, edge, employee, faculty, faith, feature, flavour, flexibility, fluid, freedom, heat, identity, independence, individuality, influence, information, initiative, innocence, integrity, jurisdiction, lead, loyalty, majority, memory, moisture, monopoly, mystery, office, ownership, poise, popularity, possession, prerogative, responsibility, right, sanity, seat, semblance, sense, shape, staff, status, title, value, vestige, warmth