regress

[ri-gres, ree-gres]

verb (used without object)

1. to move backward; go back.

   Synonyms: ebb, lapse, backslide, retreat, revert

2. to revert to an earlier or less advanced state or form.

noun

1. the act of going back; return.

2. the right to go back.

3. backward movement or course; retrogression.

regress

verb

1. (intr) to return or revert, as to a former place, condition, or mode of behaviour

2. (tr) statistics to measure the extent to which (a dependent variable) is associated with one or more independent variables

noun

1. the act of regressing

2. movement in a backward direction; retrogression

3. logic a supposed explanation each stage of which requires to be similarly explained, as saying that knowledge requires a justification in terms of propositions themselves known to be true

Other Word Forms

• regressor noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of regress¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English regresse (noun), from Latin regressus “a return,” noun use of past participle of regredī “to go back, return,” from re- re- + -gredī, combining form of gradī “to step, walk, go”; gradient

Word History and Origins

Origin of regress¹

C14: from Latin regressus a retreat, from regredī to go back, from _re- + gradī to go

Example Sentences

Greyson was meeting all his milestones and speaking normally until age 2, when he started regressing.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"They have somehow managed to regress and have a weaker squad than they did last year," former Scotland striker Steven Thompson told Sportsound.

Read more on BBC

Responding imperfectly in a moment of great stress doesn’t mean that this is a story designed to show how women fail each other, or how women are pitted against each other, or to regress feminism.

Read more on Salon

Jones regressed and got benched—raising concerns that Belichick had mismanaged the young passer’s development.

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To hear that word it feels like we've regressed and nothing's changed.

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Related Words

• degenerate 
• deteriorate 
• ebb 
• fall back 
• fall off 
• recede 
• revert