progression
Americannoun
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progressions
plural
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the act of progressing; forward or onward movement.
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a passing successively from one member of a series to the next; succession; sequence.
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Mathematics. a succession of quantities in which there is a constant relation between each member and the one succeeding it.
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Music. the manner in which chords or melodic tones follow one another; a succession of chords or tones.
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Astrology. any of a variety of methods of comparing the natal chart to subsequent planetary positions in order to establish an optimum time to accomplish things or to establish the probable time an event occurred or will occur.
noun
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the act of progressing; advancement
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the act or an instance of moving from one thing or unit in a sequence to the next
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maths a sequence of numbers in which each term differs from the succeeding term by a constant relation See also arithmetic progression geometric progression harmonic progression
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music movement, esp of a logical kind, from one note to the next ( melodic progression ) or from one chord to the next ( harmonic progression )
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astrology one of several calculations, based on the movement of the planets, from which it is supposed that one can find the expected developments in a person's birth chart and the probable trends of circumstances for a year in his life
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of progression
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin prōgressiōn-, stem of prōgressiō “advancement, forward movement”; equivalent to progress + -ion
Explanation
A progression is a series that advances in a logical and predictable pattern. In mathematics, for example, the series 2, 4, 6, 8 is an arithmetic progression. If asked to give the next number, most people would reply 10. A movement forward, especially one that advances toward some achievement, is called a progression. When you get your learner's permit, it's a step in the natural progression from child to responsible adult — although you may see it as part of your progression toward freedom. The progression from permit to driver's license includes a few more steps, like highway driving and learning how to parallel park your dad's enormous car.
Vocabulary lists containing progression
By the Roots: Grad-, Gress-: to step
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Common Core Grades 7–8, List 5
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Common Core Grades 9–10, List 5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His career progression, he believes, will now be faster as a result.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
When the distribution remained unchanged, the progression of this particular form of time effectively stopped.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
It was a natural progression for the Cryptkeeper to be the next recording artist.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Its progression can speed up or slow down depending on how entropy changes within the system.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
When a culture grows big enough, it acquires an elite, which needs to monitor things it considers important: money, stored goods, births and deaths, the progression of time.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
After revisiting Edgard Varèse’s music, he built upon Varèse’s ideas about building and extending musical structures that are independent from standard harmonic progressions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
“I thought he got through some progressions really well.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2024
And then he wrote this song that kind of had some similar chord progressions in it.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024
"As a fundamental principle in music composition, it is necessary to combine temporal sequences from tension-building to resolution in various scales, from harmonic progressions to entire movements," Nagai writes.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2024
Find a teacher who is willing and able to teach you specifically about harmony and typical chord progressions.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
