to regress

Examples

• All

• So I always think about like the the fact in some ways how far back we've regressed as much as we've progressed.

  Harvard University

• You need to regress back to that night.

  Antibirth (2016)

• I think sometimes we can regress, or at least parts of the world can, can regress, you know?

• And that causes them to kind of regress into the their isolated state.

• In fact, you'll regress to when you were younger and different groups considered themselves special for no good reason.

  Glossary of Broken Dreams (2018)

• By his 4th year of the program, he seemed to be regressing rather than acquiring new skills.

  Academic text (1996)

• Indeed, a whole society may also regress, based on the degrees of unmastered and uncontrolled general anxiety.

  Academic text (1997)

• Russia had become a great brooding giant with a devastated economy and regressed technology.

  Fiction book (1995)

• You just hope it doesn't regress so that we're living in yesterday's world rather than tomorrow's world.

• When faced with challenges, many people tend to regress to behaviors they exhibited in their childhood.

Synonyms

C

to come back

vsto regress

∞ 1.3

To return to how it was before

implies a backward change that makes things worse or less developed

R

to return

vsto regress

∞ 1.0

Go back to a place, state or activity

adds that this movement involves decline to a less developed state

T

to turn back

vsto regress

159 2.1

To go back to a previous place or state

is typically about backward movement that causes deterioration or worsening

R

to revert

vsto regress

67 4.2

To go back to a previous state or way of doing things

is narrower, stressing decline to a less developed or worse state

F

to fall back

vsto regress

13 4.2

To begin an old bad habit again after trying to change

is broader, meaning decline into a worse state not only habits

R

to relapse

vsto regress

11 6.1

To become ill again or return to a bad habit after getting better

is broader, covering decline that is not limited to illness cycles

L

to lapse

vsto regress

8 5.2

To return to a previous bad habit

focuses more on full backward movement leading to deterioration

B

to backslide

vsto regress

2 7.5

To start doing old bad habits again after making progress

emphasizes general return to worse condition rather than moral failure

R

to retrogress

vsto regress

• Formal

1 8.7

To go back to an earlier, worse state

is the same idea but stresses decline into a less developed state

R

to retrograde

vsto regress

8.2

To become worse or return to an earlier state

is the same concept but with emphasis on decline rather than neutral change

R

to retrovert

vsto regress

9.9

To go back to an earlier state or way of doing things

is specifically about moving to a less developed or worse state

Antonyms

I

to improve

∞ 1.0

To make something better

P

to progress

209 2.5

Move forward or get better over time

How Developed

to flourish

116 4.1

to progress

209 2.5

to develop

905 1.6

to stabilize

• US

75 4.3

to stagnate

19 6.8

to deteriorate

146 5.9

to regress

24 7.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology