regress

1 of 2

noun

re·​gress ˈrē-ˌgres 

1

a

: an act or the privilege of going or coming back

b

: reentry sense 1

2

: movement backward to a previous and especially worse or more primitive state or condition

3

: the act of reasoning backward

regress

2 of 2

verb

re·​gress ri-ˈgres 

regressed; regressing; regresses

intransitive verb

1

a

: to make or undergo regress : retrograde

b

: to be subject to or exhibit regression

2

: to tend to approach or revert to a mean

transitive verb

: to induce a state of psychological regression in

regressor

ri-ˈgre-sər 

noun

Did you know?

As you might guess, regress is the opposite of progress. So if a disease regresses, that's generally a good thing, but in most other ways we prefer not to regress. If someone's mental state has been improving, we hope that person won't start to regress; and when a nation's promising educational system begins to regress, that's a bad sign for the country's future. Economists often distinguish between a progressive tax and a regressive tax; in a progressive tax, the percentage that goes to taxes gets larger as the amount of money being taxed gets larger, while in a regressive tax the percentage gets smaller.

Synonyms

Verb

• retrogress
• return
• revert

Examples of regress in a Sentence

Verb

The patient is regressing to a childlike state.

in extreme circumstances, people sometimes regress to the behavior they exhibited in childhood

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

If the Astros regress, and the Angels and A’s stay bad, and the Rangers don’t become the Texas Rangers of 2023, well, the Mariners may have a shot. —Maury Brown, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025

The Bruins also continue to regress defensively, having given up 40 or more points in four of their last five halves, with the outlier being Maryland’s 39 points in the second half. —Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025

Verb

That projection is based on the player’s performance in each metric over the last three seasons (five for goalies), weighted for recency where more recent seasons carry more significance and regressed to the mean. —Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic, 22 Jan. 2025

Khan fired coach Doug Pederson a day after the team’s regular-season finale and following his 18th loss in 23 games, a stunning stretch of futility that had a lot to do with injuries to quarterback Trevor Lawrence and a defense that regressed under first-year coordinator Ryan Nielsen. —Mark Long, Orlando Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English regresse, from Anglo-French, from Latin regressus, from regredi to go back, from re- + gradi to go — more at grade entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

circa 1522, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

regress

verb

re·​gress

ri-ˈgres

: to go or cause to go back especially to a previous level or condition

Medical Definition

regress

intransitive verb

re·​gress ri-ˈgres 

: to undergo or exhibit regression

a regressing lesion

transitive verb

: to induce a state of psychological regression in

regress a hypnotized subject