regression

American  

[ri-gresh-uhn] / rɪˈgrɛʃ ən /

noun

regressions plural

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.

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adjective

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

   regression curve; regression equation.

regression British  

/ 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

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regression Scientific  

/ 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.

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regression Cultural  

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.)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonregression
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• regressions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of regression

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

Explanation

When you experience regression, you "go back" in some way. If you've been trying to break your sugar habit but one day eat several pieces of cake, that's regression. Remember that the suffix -ion is added to a verb to make it into a noun, making regression the noun form of the verb "to regress." We can find regression, meaning "the act of going back," as far back as the late 1300s, from the Latin regressus, which means "a return." When you see all your old friends (and enemies) at a school reunion, you might experience regression and start acting like your younger self.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

regression regressions

But if he does return to ties and suits as prime minister, it will only be a regression to his previous Westminster look.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

What looks like regression is often better understood as response.

From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026

The final sample for the baseline regression analysis consists of about 10 million repeat sales.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026

When trends feel irreversible, regression to the mean becomes hard to imagine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

It should be said that regression analysis is more art than science.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Datadog’s strength revolves around observability, which is all about “providing context to the state of every part of the business including performance regressions, outages, or issues concerning security and compliance,” according to the company’s website.

From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026

“If key departures slow iteration, cause quality regressions, or reduce community trust, the open-source flywheel weakens.”

From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026

They solve problems, explain steps, interpret statistical output and run regressions from uploaded data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025

Former audio programmer Isaac Hudd says "mistakes started piling up" during crunch, and says "regressions", where one team would fix a bug only for another to unwittingly bring it back to life, became increasingly common.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025

The flight instructors mistakenly attributed the pilots’ deterioration to their praise of them, and likewise the pilots’ improvement to their criticism; both, however, were simply regressions to the more likely mean performance.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• backsliding
• relapse