regression

[ ri-gresh-uhn ]

noun

1. the act of going back to a previous place or state; return or reversion.
2. retrogradation; retrogression.
3. Biology. reversion to an earlier or less advanced state or form or to a common or general type.
4. Psychoanalysis. the reversion to a chronologically earlier or less adapted pattern of behavior and feeling.
5. a subsidence of a disease or its manifestations:

   a regression of symptoms.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or determined by regression analysis:

   regression curve; regression equation.

regression

/ rɪˈɡrɛʃən /

noun

1. psychol the adoption by an adult or adolescent of behaviour more appropriate to a child, esp as a defence mechanism to avoid anxiety
2. statistics
   1. the analysis or measure of the association between one variable (the dependent variable) and one or more other variables (the independent variables), usually formulated in an equation in which the independent variables have parametric coefficients, which may enable future values of the dependent variable to be predicted
   2. ( as modifer )

      regression curve

3. astronomy the slow movement around the ecliptic of the two points at which the moon's orbit intersects the ecliptic. One complete revolution occurs about every 19 years
4. geology the retreat of the sea from the land
5. the act of regressing

regression

/ rĭ-grĕsh′ən /

1. A subsiding of the symptoms or process of a disease.
2. The return of a population to an earlier or less complex physical type in successive generations.
3. The relationship between the mean value of a random variable and the corresponding values of one or more independent variables.
4. A relative fall in sea level resulting in deposition of terrestrial strata over marine strata.
5. Compare transgression
6. Retrograde motion of a celestial body.

regression

1. A Freudian concept used by psychiatrists to signify a return to primitive or impulsive behavior after more mature behavior has been learned. ( See also defense mechanism , id , and libido .)

Other Words From

• nonre·gression noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of regression¹

First recorded in 1510–20, regression is from the Latin word regressiōn- (stem of regressiō ). See regress, -ion

Example Sentences

To explain Olympic cost blowouts, the researchers said overruns did not, over time, undergo a “regression to the mean” — the statistical phenomenon that looks at the impact of repeat events on outcomes.

From Ozy

We derive the distribution of outcome relationships by performing an XGBoost regression.

From Ozy

Our modeling process utilizes an ensemble technique, incorporating various algorithms and variable subsets, including logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost and elastic net to forecast elections.

From Ozy

We actually need to create barriers to regression to the status quo.

From Fortune

The rigid method, which is the most accurate historically, receives the majority of the weight, followed by the demographic regression and then the regional regression.

From FiveThirtyEight

Of course this absurd historical regression is just theatrical cover for EYUR's real intentions, which were purely reactive.

From The Daily Beast

In the academy, there is no truth without a statistical regression.

From The Daily Beast

Worst of all, they elide the obvious point that all revolts fluctuate between periods of progress and regression.

From The Daily Beast

In an idea-deprived fashion world, punk has become just the latest way station in an infinite retro-regression.

From The Daily Beast

Our R2 regression shows that about 1.8 percent of the variation in voting is explained by county median income.

From The Daily Beast

He was thinking: yesterday wasted—covert regression, myself included—no more of that!

From Project Gutenberg

Few of these groups or communities that are classed as "savage" show no traces of regression from a more advanced cultural stage.

From Project Gutenberg

War is a reaction, a regression, but still it is something more than a mere slipping of the machinery of life.

From Project Gutenberg

Rapid change invariably betokens regression—descent being vastly easier and swifter in movement than ascent is.

From Project Gutenberg

Even if we could achieve this feat of regression, we could not reach by this means a God distinct from the universe.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• backsliding
• relapse