go for retirement OR go on retirement (2025)

Hello,

I was wondering which preposition should be used with the noun retirement:

go on retirement

OR

go for retirement

By the way, if both were acceptable, would there be any differences in meaning?

Thank you!

I wouldn't really use either.

To say "Go on retirement" would imply that retiring is temporary and that one will soon return to work. To say "Go for retirement" really has no use that I can think of.

What's the context?

Monkey F B I said:

What's the context?

Click to expand...

To tell you the truth, there is no context....All right, I can come up with the following situtation:

Two people bump into each other in the street; they have not seen each other for a long time.

Person1: You look horrible. Is it your job?
Person2: Yes, I am fed up with it!
Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should go.............. retirement.

I do not want to use the verb retire; I need a preposition with the noun.

In the sense of "to not work anymore" neither of them is really idiomatic.

"Frank is going to go on retirement." <- Huh?
"Frank is going to go on retirement pay." <- Adjective form, but Frank is going to retire and take a pension.
"Frank is going to go for retirement." <- It is going to be Frank's goal to retire.
"Frank is going to retire." <- Yay!

Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should ............... retirement.

Try these:

Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should consider retirement.
Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should think about retirement.
Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should plan your retirement.

audiolaik said:

See Also

early/middle/late+monthat/in/on early morningearly in the morning vs. in the early morning

To tell you the truth, there is no context....All right, I can come up with the following situtation:

Two people bump into each other in the street; they have not seen each other for a long time.

Person1: You look horrible. Is it your job?
Person2: Yes, I am fed up with it!
Person1: You are not young anymore. I think you should ............... retirement.

I do not want to use the verb retire; I need a preposition with the noun.

Click to expand...

I suppose in that specific case you could say "plan on retiring", but I'd really just recommend using "retire".

Then again, you could also do "I think you should consider retirement"

audiolaik said:

So, neither on nor for sounds idiomatic, right?

Click to expand...

Right. "For" doesn't make sense and "on" implies that it's a vacation.

I think "go for" would make sense in your sentence, audio: it would mean something like "try for", or "apply for".

"Go on" would only work in very specific contexts eg "he went on early retirement" = "he left the company on early retirement terms".

Why do you need a verb+preposition+noun combination instead of the verb "to retire"?

Loob said:

Why do you need a verb+preposition+noun combination instead of the verb "to retire"?

Click to expand...

Just to satisfy my curiosity....

Loob said:

I think "go for" would make sense in your sentence, audio: it would mean something like "try for", or "apply for".

Click to expand...

From what I can tell, the meaning that he is trying to achieve is simply "retire". If he were to say "go for retirement", it seems almost as if retirement is a goal for his future.

My dictionary gives an example of a verb plus retirement, which perhaps is what you're looking for by comparsion to our native tongue (though we use a preposition too), Audio:
She took early retirement (=retired at an earlier age than usual) last year.
Longman Doctionary of Contemporary English
I also think one would say:
to live in retirement (verb + preposition + retirement).

Tom

sdgraham said:

I think you're misguided by the fact that some European languages other than English use the 'on' preposition.

Click to expand...

Could you expand on the issue a little bit more, please?

EDIT: to Thomas1: Yes, I have checked some dictionaries; however, none of them suggests on or for. But if you google both on and for, you get quite a reasonable number of hits. (The for version seems to be by far more popular.)

audiolaik said:

But if you google both on and for, you get quite a big number of hits.

Click to expand...

This is misleading, because most of them are going to be for the adjective form.
"He lives on retirement pay."
"Read this for retirement advice."

xqby said:

This is misleading, because most of them are going to be for the adjective form.
"He lives on retirement pay."
"Read this for retirement advice."

Click to expand...

Have you checked that, xqby?

audiolaik said:

Have you checked that, xqby?

Click to expand...

I just checked. "On retirement" on Google most commonly refers to "on the subject of retirement". "For retirement" refers to the preparation for retirement.

Monkey F B I said:

I just checked. "On retirement" on Google most commonly refers to "on the subject of retirement". "For retirement" refers to the preparation for retirement.

Click to expand...

So, for is more likely to be the correct answer to my question than on, isn't it?

Audio, there are lots of combinations which could have brought up google hits for "on retirement" or "for retirement".

But it remains true that there isn't a "go+preposition+retirement" combination that is the equivalent of "retire". And I can't think of any verb+preposition+"retirement" combination that would have that meaning.

Is your curiosity satisfied?

audiolaik said:

So, for is more likely to be the correct answer to my question than on, isn't it?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, because it's not the meaning that you're trying to get. When I said the preparation for retirement, I meant the financial planning, etc.

Loob said:

But it remains true that there isn't a "go+preposition+retirement" combination that is the equivalent of "retire". And I can't think of any verb+preposition+"retirement" combination that would have that meaning.

Click to expand...

If you say so....

Loob said:

Is your curiosity satisfied?

Click to expand...

Hmmm...That's a difficult question...another defeat...Where is the whip?

audiolaik said:

[...]
EDIT: to Thomas1: Yes, I have checked some dictionaries; however, none of them suggests on or for. But if you google both on and for, you get quite a reasonable number of hits. (The for version seems to be by far more popular.)

Click to expand...

Well, I've just run a quick search and here are the results (Search English pages):
Results 211 - 213 of 213 English pages for "go on retirement" (here) Results 201 - 208 of 208 English pages for "go for retirement".(here)

They really aren't convincing to me.

Tom

I'd say this means "withdraw from the world" rather than "stop working and start drawing a retirement pension".

No?

"stop working and start drawing a retirement pension".

Click to expand...

That is making an unfounded assumption. Not everyone, by any means, has the opportunity to be given a retirement pension. Those who are self employed have to provide for themselves.