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• progressive
  progressive

  adjective

  favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters.
• Progressive
  Progressive

  noun

  history a member or supporter of a Progressive Party

progressive

American  

[pruh-gres-iv] / prəˈgrɛs ɪv /

adjective

1. favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters.

   The city recently elected a progressive mayor.

   Synonyms:

   liberal

2. making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods, etc..

   We are a progressive community supporting and connecting innovative artists from many different cultures.

3. Progressive, of or relating to any of the Progressive parties in politics.

4. going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.

   We are seeing a progressive increase in average temperatures worldwide.

   Synonyms:

   continuous, straight, successive, consecutive

5. relating to or being a form of taxation in which the rate increases with certain increases in taxable income.

6. of or relating to progressive education.

   He worries that progressive schools achieve less solid mastery than conventional schools.

7. Grammar. designating a verb aspect or other verb category used for an action or state in process at a particular point of reference in time, whether past, present, or future.

8. Medicine/Medical. continuously increasing in extent or severity, as a disease.

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noun

• progressives
  plural

1. a person who is progressive or who favors progress or reform, especially in political matters.

2. Progressive, a member of a Progressive party.

3. Grammar.

   1. a verb aspect or other verb category used for an action or state in process at a particular point of reference in time, whether past, present, or future.

   2. an instance or form of a verb in this aspect, such as They are thinking about it, I was reading when you called, or Tomorrow I will be traveling to Boston.

progressive ¹ British  

/ prəˈɡrɛsɪv /

adjective

1. of or relating to progress

2. proceeding or progressing by steps or degrees

3. (often capital) favouring or promoting political or social reform through government action, or even revolution, to improve the lot of the majority

   a progressive policy

4. denoting or relating to an educational system that allows flexibility in learning procedures, based on activities determined by the needs and capacities of the individual child, the aim of which is to integrate academic with social development

5. (of a tax or tax system) graduated so that the rate increases relative to the amount taxed Compare regressive

6. (esp of a disease) advancing in severity, complexity, or extent

7. (of a dance, card game, etc) involving a regular change of partners after one figure, one game, etc

8. denoting an aspect of verbs in some languages, including English, used to express prolonged or continuous activity as opposed to momentary or habitual activity

   a progressive aspect of the verb ``to walk'' is ``is walking.''

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noun

1. a person who advocates progress, as in education, politics, etc

2. 1. the progressive aspect of a verb

   2. a verb in this aspect

Progressive ² British  

/ prəˈɡrɛsɪv /

noun

1. history a member or supporter of a Progressive Party

2. Canadian history a member or supporter of a chiefly agrarian reform movement advocating the nationalization of railways, low tariffs, an end to party politics, and similar measures: important in the early 1920s

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a Progressive Party, Progressive movement, or Progressives

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonprogressiveness
  noun
• progressiveness
  noun
• progressivism
  noun
• progressivist
  noun
• progressivity
  noun
• semiprogressiveness
  noun
• ultraprogressiveness
  noun
• unprogressiveness
  noun
• antiprogressive
  adjective
• nonprogressive
  adjective
• quasi-progressive
  adjective
• semiprogressive
  adjective
• ultraprogressive
  adjective
• unprogressive
  adjective
• progressively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• progressives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of progressive

First recorded in 1600–10; progress + -ive

Explanation

People who are progressive favor reform and believe that government should play a big role in improving society. This word is the opposite of conservative, which means "favoring tradition; resistant to change." Although it's often used in political contexts as a synonym of liberal, progressive can also be used in a more general sense. You're a progressive thinker if you like to come up with new ways of doing things and you’re open to change. A progressive tax increases the tax rate in increments: higher earners pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes. In the field of grammar, progressive refers to a type of verb tense that describes ongoing action. This word applies to lots of things that slowly increase, change, or progress.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

progressive Progressive progressives

El-Sayed was backed by progressive leaders including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, as well as the United Auto Workers union.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

“Fred gave us that first edge of being progressive and aggressive,” Hershiser told the Times in 2017.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

For some Black voters, the skepticism has to do with questions about El-Sayed’s progressive agenda.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

In early 2025, Run For Something, an organization that recruits and trains progressive millennial and Gen Z candidates for state and local office, launched an initiative that aims to get more renters elected.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

Priority disputes are an infallible indicator that knowledge has become public, progressive and discovery oriented.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabić, also a Progressive Party member, will assume the role of interim president until a new one is elected.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

RootsAction’s coalition partner in this initiative, Progressive Democrats of America, has a history of major success in candidate recruitment.

From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026

The Movement for Progressive Judaism said "while the vulnerability of British Jews must not be ignored" measures directed at Israeli settlements "are not the same as an attack on Jews".

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab will replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell in Congress and finish his current term.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

On the night of September 30, 1919, some one hundred African American sharecroppers attended a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America at a black church three miles north of Elaine, Arkansas.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

Libertarians, social conservatives, progressives, socialists and others could all make a pitch for whatever rights they favored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and his seemingly supernatural competence at both city management and marketing, has laid a blueprint for kitchen-table progressives looking to bust out of the Trump-era holding pattern.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

She has helped draw an entire generation of progressives into politics, and totally changed the game for young people, young women, and democratic socialists.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

But as excitement over his campaign began to mount among progressives on a national level, Ryan said, El-Sayed’s public posture swung to a middle ground.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Middle-class progressives, disgusted by the corrupt politics of both Thompson and Sweitzer, threw their weight behind an independent reformer.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

Related Words

• forward-looking
• forward-thinking
• left
• left of center
• leftist
• liberal
• reformist