regress
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To move backwards to an earlier stage.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
reegresSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹiɡɹɛs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
psychology
Go back to bad behavior
psychology
To re-develop behavior one had previously grown out of, particularly a behavior left behind in childhood.
intransitivemedicine
To reduce in severity or size (as of a tumor), without reaching total remission.
transitive
To interrogate a person in a state of trance about forgotten elements of their past.
noun
The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.
The power or liberty of passing back.
Word at a Glance
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Go back to bad behavior
Used this way, regress is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- retrogress , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.