regress

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is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable as a noun and with the stress on the second syllable as a verb.

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verb

To slip from a higher or better condition to a former, usually lower or poorer one: backslide, lapse, relapse, retrogress, revert. See better/worse, repetition.

v

Definition: return to earlier way of doing things
Antonyms: develop, grow, improve, progress

A strategy gives rise to a vicious regress if whatever problem it was designed to solve remains as much in need of the same treatment after its use as before. Thus a definition is (usually) viciously regressive if the term to be defined recurs in the definition. The definition ‘x is good’ = ‘x is something we think is good’, faces the question of what the word ‘good’ is doing on the right-hand side of the equation: what are we said to think about x? Reapplication gives ‘x is good’ = ‘x is something we think is something we think is…’ and the procedure continues forever, yielding an infinite regress. A benign regress is a regress which involves no such failure. ‘It is true that p’ = ‘it is true that it is true that…that p’ without any worrisome change of content of what is said. There is frequently room for dispute about whether regresses are benign or vicious, since the issue will hinge on whether it is necessary to reapply the procedure. The cosmological argument is an attempt to find a stopping point for what is otherwise seen as being an infinite regress. See also circle, vicious.

For a list of words related to regress, see:

• Directions - regress: move backward

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See words rhyming with "regress."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Regress.

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - vende tilbage, gå tilbage, regredere
n. - tilbagevenden, tilbagegang, regression

Nederlands (Dutch)
achteruitgaan, terugvallen in vroeger gedrag, vaardigheden en geheugen verliezen, terugkeren naar eerdere ontwikkelingsfase, redenering vanuit gevolg naar oorzaak, achteruitgang, terugkeer, het weer in bezit nemen (onroerend goed)

Français (French)
v. intr. - (Biol, Psych) régresser, (fig) régresser
n. - régression, retour en arrière

Deutsch (German)
v. - sich zurückentwickeln
n. - Rückgang

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - οπισθοδρομώ, παλινδρομώ, ξανακυλώ, υποτροπιάζω
n. - οπισθοχώρηση, οπισθοδρόμηση, υποτροπή

Italiano (Italian)
regresso

Português (Portuguese)
v. - regredir
n. - retrocesso (m)

Русский (Russian)
регресс, мысленное обращение к прошлому, регрессировать

Español (Spanish)
v. intr. - retroceder
n. - retroceso

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - återgå
n. - återgång

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
退回, 复原, 逆行, 回归, 归复权

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. intr. - 退回, 復原, 逆行, 回歸
n. - 退回, 歸複權, 回歸

한국어 (Korean)
v. intr. - 퇴행하다, 되돌아 가다, 역행하다, 퇴보하다
n. - 퇴행, 복귀, 역행

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 後戻りする, 逆行する, 復帰する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يرجع, يرتد, ينكص (الاسم) رجوع, إرتداد, نكوص‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮נסוג (למצב קודם, נחשל)‬
n. - ‮נסיגה (למצב קודם, נחשל)‬

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