【Go】 ,  【leave】 ,  【depart】 ,  【quit】 ,  【withdraw】 ,  【retire】  are comparable when they mean to move out of or away from the place where one is.

Of these terms,  【go】  is the most general and the least explicit in its implications; it often is used merely as the opposite of come.

【Leave】  (see also RELINQUISH LET 2 ) so strongly implies a separation from someone or something that the verb in this sense is more often used transitively than intransitively; in its intransitive use the term commonly implies a more formal or a more conspicuous act than 【go】 implies and often requires a statement of the means of going.

【Depart】  (see also SWERVE ) is rarely transitive except in a few idiomatic phrases. As an intransitive verb it not only carries a stronger implication of separation from a person, place, or status than  【leave】  carries, but it is somewhat more formal, especially when it is used as the opposite of arrive.

【Quit】  (see also STOP 1 BEHAVE 1 ), like  【leave】 , is more often transitive than intransitive and carries a strong implication of separation from a person or thing. Unlike  【leave】 , it stresses a getting free or being rid of what holds, entangles, or burdens.

【Withdraw】  stresses more than  【quit】  a deliberate removal for reasons that seem justifiable to the person concerned or acceptable to the reader; the term therefore seldom carries (as  【quit】  often carries) a suggestion of cowardice, weakness, or instability; thus, one quits a trying job, but one withdraws from an insecure position. Frequently  【withdraw】 implies such a motive as courtesy, a sense of propriety, or a grievance.

【Retire】  is often used interchangeably with  【withdraw】 , but it is especially appropriate when the removal also implies a renunciation, a permanent relinquishing (as of a position), a retreat, or a recession.

Often  【retire】 carries the specific sense of to 【withdraw】 to one’s bedroom and to one’s bed for the night.