When you have urinary retention, your bladder may still feel full after you urinate. This is because it's not emptying all the way. You may feel like you still need to go urgently, even after urinating a large volume of liquid.

When this starts happening suddenly and you can't urinate, it's called acute urinary retention. If it lasts a long time and you can still urinate but not completely empty your bladder, it's known as chronic urinary retention.