retrogression

American  

[re-truh-gresh-uhn] / ˌrɛ trəˈgrɛʃ ən /

noun

1. the act of retrogressing; movement backward.

2. Biology. degeneration; retrograde metamorphosis; passing from a more complex to a simpler structure.

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Etymology

Origin of retrogression

1640–50; < Latin retrōgress ( us ) ( see retrogress) + -ion

Example Sentences

The U.S. is in the midst of a visa retrogression, when a surge in demand collides with annual caps, jamming up the processing queue.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 16, 2023

“It was a decade that was marked by economic retrogression and ideological struggles.”

From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2022

This duplicity is, as the museum called it, part of the American paradox: a museum that represents both stagnancy and change, advancement and retrogression, black America and the rest.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 24, 2019

"Openness versus isolation and progress versus retrogression, humanity has a major choice to make," Xi said at the Boao Forum for Asia, China's version of Davos, held on the tropical southern island of Hainan.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2018

In the 1970s, under Brezhnev, the feeling was not merely of no progress but of retrogression.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau