retrogress
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to go backward into an earlier and usually worse condition.
to retrogress to infantilism.
- Synonyms:
- revert, retreat, withdraw, retrograde, degenerate, decline
-
to move backward.
verb
-
to go back to an earlier, esp worse, condition; degenerate or deteriorate
-
to move backwards; recede
-
biology to develop characteristics or features of lower or simpler organisms; degenerate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of retrogress
First recorded in 1810–20; from Latin retrōgressus, past participle of retrōgradī “to go back or backward,” equivalent to retrō- “back, backward, behind” + gred-, combining form of gradī “to step, go” + -tus past participle suffix, with dt becoming ss; see retro-
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.
Not to struggle is to retrogress, to collapse, to go revisionist.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sir: Premarital Murdock flagrantly contradicts his own anthropology and science when he advocates that we should retrogress thousands of years into the primitive "gland-motivated" society.
From Time Magazine Archive
The pituitary, too, begins to retrogress after the period of maturity.
From The Glands Regulating Personality by Berman, Louis, M.D.
But it must be a slow, and occasionally an interrupted progress, after a sad retrogress of nearly twelve years.'
From The Opium Habit by Day, Horace B.
It may after a time remain stationary, or, in rare instances, retrogress; as a rule, however, it is progressive.
From Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine by Stelwagon, Henry Weightman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
