Yahoo Web Search

Search results

1. Dictionary

   ret·ro·grade

   /ˈretrəˌɡrād/

   adjective

   • 1. directed or moving backward: "a retrograde flow" Similar backwardbackwardsreverserearwarddirected backwardsretreatingretrogressiveOpposite forward
   • ▪ reverting to an earlier and inferior condition: "to go back on the progress that has been made would be a retrograde step" Similar for the worseregressivenegativedownhillunwelcomeunprogressiveworseningdeterioratingdegeneratedecliningOpposite positiveforward-looking
   • ▪ (of the order of something) reversed; inverse: "the retrograde form of these inscriptions"
   • ▪ (of amnesia) involving the period immediately preceding the causal event.
   • ▪ (of a metamorphic change) resulting from a decrease in temperature or pressure.
   • ▪ (of the apparent motion of a planet) in a reverse direction from normal (from east to west), resulting from the relative orbital progress of the earth and the planet.
   • ▪ (of the orbit or rotation of a planet or planetary satellite) in a reverse direction from that normal in the solar system.

   noun

   • 1. a degenerate person. rare

   verb

   • 1. go back in position or time: archaic "our history must retrograde for the space of a few pages"
   • ▪ revert to an earlier and inferior condition: "people cannot habitually trample on law and justice without retrograding toward barbarism"
   • 2. show retrogradation: "all the planets will at some time appear to retrograde"

   Word Origin late Middle English (as a term in astronomy): from Latin retrogradus, from retro ‘backwards’ + gradus ‘step’ (from gradi ‘to walk’).

   Derivatives

   • 1. retrogradely adverb

   Scrabble Points: 12

   • R

     1

   • E

     1

   • T

     1

   • R

     1

   • O

     1

   • G

     2

   • R

     1

   • A

     1

   • D

     2

   • E

     1

   Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

   More definitions, origin and scrabble points