regress

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: re=gress

CIDE DICTIONARY

regress, n. [L. regressus, fr. regredi, regressus. See Regrede.].

•  The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression. “The progress or regress of man”.  F. Harrison.  [1913 Webster]
•  The power or liberty of passing back.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

regress, v. i. 

 To go back; to return to a former place or state.  Sir T. Browne.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

regress, v. & n.
--v.
1 intr. move backwards, esp. (in abstract senses) return to a former state.
2 intr. & tr. Psychol. return or cause to return mentally to a former stage of life, esp. through hypnosis or mental illness.
--n.
1 the act or an instance of going back.
2 reasoning from effect to cause.

Etymology

ME (as n.) f. L regressus f. regredi regress- (as RE-, gradi step)

THESAURUS

regress

about-face, advance, ascend, back, back up, backing, backset, backslide, backsliding, backward motion, backward step, budge, change, change place, circle, climb, cock, come after, come last, degenerate, descend, deteriorate, disenchantment, disimprove, ebb, fall, fall again into, fall astern, fall back, fall behind, fall from grace, flip-flop, flow, follow, get behind, get over, get worse, go, go around, go back, go backwards, go behind, go round, go sideways, grow worse, gyrate, have a relapse, jerk back, lag behind, lapse, lapse back, let down, lose ground, mount, move, move over, plunge, progress, pull back, reaction, recede, recession, recidivate, recidivation, recidivism, reclamation, reconversion, recur to, reentry, refluence, reflux, regression, rehabilitation, reinstatement, relapse, restitution, restoration, retroaction, retrocede, retrocession, retroflex, retroflexion, retrogradation, retrograde, retrogress, retrogression, retroversion, retrovert, retrusion, return, return to, returning, reversal, reverse, reversion, revert, revert to, reverting, revulsion, rise, rollback, rotate, run, setback, shift, sicken, sink, sink back, slacken, slide back, slip back, slipping back, soar, spin, sternway, stir, stream, subside, throw back, throwback, trail, trail behind, travel, turn, turnabout, wane, whirl, worsen, yield again to

ROGET THESAURUS

regress

Reversion

VB revert, turn back, regress, relapse, recoil, retreat, restore, undo, unmake, turn the tide, roll back the tide, turn the scale, tip the scale.

Regression

N regress, regression, retrocession, retrogression, retrograduation, retroaction, reculade, retreat, withdrawal, retirement, remigration, recession, recess, crab-like motion, refluence, reflux, backwater, regurgitation, ebb, return, resilience reflection, reflexion (recoil), flip-flop, volte-face, counter motion, retrograde motion, backward movement, motion in reverse, counter movement, counter march, veering, tergiversation, recidivation, backsliding, fall, deterioration, recidivism, recidivity, reversal, relapse, turning point, receding, retrograde, retrogressive, regressive, refluent, reflex, recidivous, resilient, crab-like, balky, reactionary, back, backwards, reflexively, to the right about, a reculons, a rebours, revenons a nos moutons, as you were.