retrograde
adjective · adverb · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Directed or moving backwards about the normal or previous direction of travel.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehtruhgraydSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛtɹəɡɹeɪd
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.
adjective
Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.
Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.
zoology
Of an animal: appearing to regress to a less developed form during its lifetime.
Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.
Of ideas or a person: opposing social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; conservative.
adverb
In a reverse direction; backwards.
noun
A movement backwards or opposite to the intended or normal motion.
One who opposes social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; a conservative.
verb
intransitive
To revert to an inferior or less developed state; to decline, to regress.
Move backward in an orbit, of celestial bodies
Move in a direction contrary to the usual one
Move back
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.
Used this way, retrograde 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
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.
Celestial
Amnesia
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Loss of memory for events immediately preceding a trauma.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
Sense: directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal
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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.