regress

Plural: regresses

Noun

• the reasoning involved when you assume the conclusion is true and reason backward to the evidence
• returning to a former state
• The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.
• The power or liberty of passing back.
• The right of a person (such as a lessee) to return to a property.

Verb

Verb Forms: regressed, regressing, regresses

• To return to an earlier, less developed state.
• go back to a statistical means
• go back to a previous state
• get worse or fall back to a previous condition
• go back to bad behavior
• To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
• To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
• To re-develop behavior one had previously grown out of, particularly a behavior left behind in childhood.
• To move in the retrograde direction.
• To reduce in severity or size (as of a tumor), without reaching total remission.
• To perform a regression on an explanatory variable.
• To interrogate a person in a state of trance about forgotten elements of their past.

Examples

• His Scrabble scores would regress if he didn’t stop making rash, speculative plays.
• When we regress Y on X, we use the values of variable X to predict those of Y.
• Your nightmares stopped when you were eight years old, but after the house burned down, you regressed.

Synonyms

fall back, lapse, reasoning backward, recidivate, regression, relapse, retrograde, retrogress, retrogression, retroversion, retrovert, return, reversion, revert, turn back, backslide

Antonyms

progress, advance, proceed

Related Words

regression, regressive