RETROGRESSION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does retrogression mean? 

• RETROGRESSION (noun)
  The noun RETROGRESSION has 2 senses:

1. passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form

2. returning to a former state

  Familiarity information: RETROGRESSION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RETROGRESSION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Passing from a more complex to a simpler biological form

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

degeneration; retrogression

Hypernyms ("retrogression" is a kind of...):

shift; transformation; transmutation (a qualitative change)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "retrogression"):

abiotrophy (a loss of vitality and a degeneration of cells and tissues not due to any apparent injury)

cataplasia ((biology) degenerative reversion of cells or tissue to a less differentiated or more primitive form)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Returning to a former state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

regress; regression; retrogression; retroversion; reversion

Hypernyms ("retrogression" is a kind of...):

reversal (a change from one state to the opposite state)

Derivation:

retrogress (get worse or fall back to a previous condition)

 Context examples 

His development (or retrogression) was rapid.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But how about the foresight and the moral retrogression?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)