Belyayev's increasing commitment to the promotion of Russian composers led to a gradual retreat from his activity as a wood dealer.

But instead of the gradual retreat the industry anticipated, demand fell abruptly.

It's the latest evidence of Monroe's gradual retreat from a vocational focus.

During the gradual retreat of the ice, there were repeated smaller advances of the glacier that led to the formation of moraines.

Later in the siege, a number of panicked Sassanid troops had started a gradual retreat.

The approach favored by many scientists, a gradual retreat from the coast, is a perennial nonstarter among real estate interests and their political allies.

The deadlock forced Mr. Clinton into a gradual retreat.

And slowly but surely the battle had turned into a gradual but inevitable retreat for her.

The aggression successfully forced a gradual retreat from the union leadership, under added pressure from the poor economic climate.

With the onset of the Schmalkaldic War in 1546, Protestants began a gradual retreat within the Empire.