as in to revert
to go back to a previous and usually lower state or level
the quality of research at the university lab has begun to retrogress since the massive budget cuts went into effect
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Recent Examples of retrogress
After the 1960s, after the switch in—the shift in the strategy to gaining political clout, a lot of those trends stalled, slowed, even retrogressed.
—
WSJ, 3 July 2017
WSJ, 3 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for retrogress
Verb
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Now, those same bases are reverting back to their original names, this time with different namesakes who share Confederate surnames — the Army found other service members with the same last names to honor.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
28 July 2025
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After which, Too Much will revert back to cheerier Netflix mode.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
Verb
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Recalibrating the brain's pleasure pathways enables desire to return organically, as observed by the Kinsey Institute, which reported a 25% increase in arousal response among participants who underwent dopamine reset.—
Ximena Araya-Fischel,
Forbes.com,
26 July 2025
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Hart undercut the route, picked off the throw and returned it for a touchdown.—
Daniel Popper,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Retrogress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retrogress. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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