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Glite Dictionary
🧠 Memory loss ⬅️ Moving backward 🪐 Reverse orbit 🔄 Becoming worse ⬅️ To move backward 🔄 To get worse 🪐 To reverse direction
retrograde

retrograde

1 7.8
Becoming worse and returning to an earlier state
  • adjective
  • /ˈrɛtrəˌɡreɪd/
translation icon : regresivo
  • The continuity is too impressive to be dismissed as merely retrograde or negative.
  • retrograde tendencies

You know, they're accused of being retrograde somehow.

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Examples

  • And actually I'm looking at it and thinking that's quite worrying and quite kind of a sad retrograde step.

  • You know, they're accused of being retrograde somehow.

    Chris Williamson

  • Participation in them increases the pressure on retrograde governments to follow suit.

    Academic text (2000)

  • These thoughts were so retrograde that she could hardly believe they were hers.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • They argue that the style is retrograde and that it reflects neither recent Malian contemporary art nor a Malian aesthetic.

    Academic text (2003)

  • One of the sturdiest dogmas in the teaching of literature today is that the poetry and fiction of the past embody stereotypical, retrograde notions about race, gender, and Western superiority.

    Academic text (1994)

  • In 1805, the fluctuating social and political structures that had allowed women more latitude in their self-representation had, under the firm hand of Napoleon, succumbed to a new (but retrograde) social and legal hierarchy.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The new law represents a retrograde move that undermines recent progress in environmental protection.

  • Many argue that returning to outdated policies is a retrograde step in social development.

  • The team's performance has been retrograde, showing a decline in skills and teamwork this season.

Synonyms

regressive
vsretrograde
5 7.5

A return to an earlier, less advanced state that stops progress

focuses on decline as a passive return rather than intentional opposition
retrogressive
vsretrograde
  • Formal
1 8.3

A change that makes things go back to a worse state

is the term for general worsening or backward change

Antonyms

improving
1.4

Becoming better over time

advancing
3.4

Moving forward or making progress slowly and steadily

Compounds

retrograde amnesia
  • Specialized
3 8.1

A loss of memory for events just before an injury

How Regressive

deterioration
43 5.9
retrograde
1 7.8
regressive
5 7.5
stable
473 2.3

Surface Forms

retrograde positive

Morphology

retrograde = grade (semi-transparent) = retro + grade

Formed by retro- + grade; the morphological composition is straightforward even if the sense is a metaphorical extension.

Etymology

Retrograde comes from the Latin parts retro- 'back' and gradus 'step', like taking a step backwards. That's why a retrograde change means going 'back' to an earlier or less advanced state.