Dictionary

regress en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹiːˌɡɹɛs/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

(verb) From Latin regressus, past participle of regredior (“to go back”), from re- (“back”) + gradior (“to go”). Doublet of regressus.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.
   • The key-hole was still their port of egress and regress, and it resembled the aperture of a bee-hive, on a sunny day in June. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 306:
   • Its bearing on the progress or regress of man is not an inconsiderable question. 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books:
2. (countable, uncountable) The power or liberty of passing back.
   • Thou shalt have egresse and regresse. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
3. (countable, uncountable) The right of a person (such as a lessee) to return to a property.

Forms

Coordinates

egress · ingress

Deriveds

infinite regress · Ryle's regress · regress argument · age regress · ingress, egress, and regress

Synonyms

retrogress

regress en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹiːˌɡɹɛs/
• /ɹɪˈɡɹɛs/
• (Southern-England) audio
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

(verb) From Latin regressus, past participle of regredior (“to go back”), from re- (“back”) + gradior (“to go”). Doublet of regressus.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
2. (intransitive) To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve. ▸ To re-develop behavior one had previously grown out of, particularly a behavior left behind in childhood.
   • Your nightmares stopped when you were eight years old, but after the house burned down, you regressed.
3. (intransitive) To move in the retrograde direction.
4. (intransitive) To reduce in severity or size (as of a tumor), without reaching total remission.
5. (transitive) To perform a regression on an explanatory variable.
   • When we regress Y on X, we use the values of variable X to predict those of Y.
6. (transitive) To interrogate a person in a state of trance about forgotten elements of their past.
   • They regressed me, putting me under hypnosis. Then, through the hypnosis, they found out that our car was abducted right off the road and into a craft. 2018, Michael Brein, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Road to Strange: UFOs, Aliens and High Strangeness:

Forms

Antonyms

progress · proceed · proceed · progress · advance · advance

Deriveds

pet regress · regressor · regresser · regressand

Relateds

regressive · regression

Synonyms

reconvert · deconvert · regress · backslide · deconvert · reconvert · backslide · reconvert · reconvert · regress

Translations (34)

hi अवनति (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · pl uwsteczniać się (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · bg движа се назад (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · be рэгрэсі́раваць (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · el υποστρέφω (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · cmn 退步 (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ro regresa (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ga aischéimnigh (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · nl teruggaan (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · fi regressoida (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · mk назадува (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ko 퇴보하다 (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ga cúlaigh (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · es retroceder (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · pl cofać (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ja 後退する (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ga téigh ar gcúl (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ja 退歩する (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · nan-hbl 退步 (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · pl uwsteczniać (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · pt regredir (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · fi regressoitua (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · de sich zurückbilden (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · lt grįžimas (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · fi taantua (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · es retrogradar (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · mi tauheke (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · yue 退步 (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ca retrocedir (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · fr régresser (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · pt retroceder (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · uk регресува́ти (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · it regredire (to move backwards to an earlier stage) · ru регресси́ровать (to move backwards to an earlier stage)