Retrograde
adjective
Moving backwards or getting worse instead of better.
The human rights situation has taken a retrograde step.
Often appears as...
- retrograde step
- retrograde motion
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
adjective
In astronomy, moving in the opposite direction to the usual direction.
Mars is in retrograde.
Often appears as...
- mercury retrograde
- mars retrograde
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To move or make something move backwards.
The car started to retrograde down the hill.
Often appears as...
- retrograde backward
- retrograde into
adjective
Moving backwards or getting worse instead of better.
The human rights situation has taken a retrograde step.
Often appears as...
- retrograde step
- retrograde motion
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
adjective
In astronomy, moving in the opposite direction to the usual direction.
Mars is in retrograde.
Often appears as...
- mercury retrograde
- mars retrograde
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To move or make something move backwards.
The car started to retrograde down the hill.
Often appears as...
- retrograde backward
- retrograde into
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Trend
Use 'retrograde' to describe a situation that is deteriorating or worsening over time.
The quality of education is exhibiting a retrograde trend.
Pro Tip 2/3Step Backward
A 'retrograde step' means a reversal in progress or a return to less advanced conditions.
Censoring the press is a retrograde step for democracy.
Pro Tip 3/3Opposite Progress
Think of 'retrograde' as the opposite of progress or moving forward in any context.
The new policy is a retrograde move for climate change efforts.
Compare with
backcounterproductivedeclinedegenerateinvertregressiveretrogressivereverse
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Video examples
Working backward to...
and extrapolating truths from that; the stepping-stone method, which is to take a position, freeze it in your mind, and go from there to guess the next position. But one of my favorites that I love to solve these kind of chess puzzles, is called retrograde analysis.
Video examples
Nationalism vs....
if something doesn't work, let's go back. And you see it all over the world, that people, almost nobody in the political system today, has any future-oriented vision of where humankind is going. Almost everywhere, you see retrograde "Let's make America great again,"
Video examples
Working backward to...
and extrapolating truths from that; the stepping-stone method, which is to take a position, freeze it in your mind, and go from there to guess the next position. But one of my favorites that I love to solve these kind of chess puzzles, is called retrograde analysis.
Video examples
Nationalism vs....
if something doesn't work, let's go back. And you see it all over the world, that people, almost nobody in the political system today, has any future-oriented vision of where humankind is going. Almost everywhere, you see retrograde "Let's make America great again,"
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Quincy Jones
American Musician
To me it's no accident that all the symphony orchestras around the world tune up to the note A. And A is 440 cycles, except in Germany where it's 444. But the universe is 450 cycles. So what I'm trying to say is, I think it's God's voice, melody especially. Counterpoint, retrograde inversion, harmony... that's the science and the craft.
Quote examples
Todd Gitlin
American Sociologist
The only people available to change the world are the people now living in it, with all the beliefs they bring along - however retrograde those beliefs may appear to those of us who see ourselves as enlightened.
Quote examples
David Chase
American Writer
The Sopranos' is filled with really retrograde humor. Bathroom humor, falls, stupid puns, bad jokes - infantile, adolescent stuff, but it makes me laugh.
Quote examples
Faith Salie
American Journalist
Man cave' seems retrograde, but 'she shed' seems progressive. Or maybe it's just a place for me to eat embarrassing amounts of chocolate in private.
Quote examples
David Ricardo
British Economist
The rise or fall of wages is common to all states of society, whether it be the stationary, the advancing, or the retrograde state.
Quote examples
Johann Kaspar Lavater
German Theologian
There are three classes of men; the retrograde, the stationary and the progressive.
Quote examples
Amiri Baraka
American Poet
Spike Lee is part of a retrograde movement in this country.
Quote examples
Edward Gibbon
English Historian
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
Quote examples
Quincy Jones
American Musician
To me it's no accident that all the symphony orchestras around the world tune up to the note A. And A is 440 cycles, except in Germany where it's 444. But the universe is 450 cycles. So what I'm trying to say is, I think it's God's voice, melody especially. Counterpoint, retrograde inversion, harmony... that's the science and the craft.
Quote examples
Todd Gitlin
American Sociologist
The only people available to change the world are the people now living in it, with all the beliefs they bring along - however retrograde those beliefs may appear to those of us who see ourselves as enlightened.
Quote examples
David Chase
American Writer
The Sopranos' is filled with really retrograde humor. Bathroom humor, falls, stupid puns, bad jokes - infantile, adolescent stuff, but it makes me laugh.
Quote examples
Faith Salie
American Journalist
Man cave' seems retrograde, but 'she shed' seems progressive. Or maybe it's just a place for me to eat embarrassing amounts of chocolate in private.
Quote examples
David Ricardo
British Economist
The rise or fall of wages is common to all states of society, whether it be the stationary, the advancing, or the retrograde state.
Quote examples
Johann Kaspar Lavater
German Theologian
There are three classes of men; the retrograde, the stationary and the progressive.
Quote examples
Amiri Baraka
American Poet
Spike Lee is part of a retrograde movement in this country.
Quote examples
Edward Gibbon
English Historian
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
Example 1 of 8
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