From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Retrograde \Re"tro*grade\, adjective [L. retrogradus, from retrogradi, retrogressus, to retrograde; retro back + gradi to step: cf. F. r['e]trograde. See {Grade}.]
1. (Astron.) Apparently moving backward, and contrary to the succession of the signs, that is, from east to west, as a planet. --Hutton.
And if he be in the west side in that condition, then is he retrograde. --Chaucer.
2. Tending or moving backward; having a backward course; contrary; as, a retrograde motion; -- opposed to {progressive}. ''Progressive and not retrograde.'' --Bacon.
It is most retrograde to our desire. --Shak.
3. Declining from a better to a worse state; as, a retrograde people; retrograde ideas, morals, etc. --Bacon.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Retrograde \Re"tro*grade\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Retrograded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Retrograding}.] [L. retrogradare, retrogradi: cf. F. r['e]trograder.]
1. To go in a retrograde direction; to move, or appear to move, backward, as a planet.
2. Hence, to decline from a better to a worse condition, as in morals or intelligence.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: moving from east to west on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in a direction opposite to that of the Earth [ant: {direct}]
2: of amnesia; affecting time immediately preceding trauma [ant: {anterograde}]
3: going from better to worse [syn: {retrogressive}]
4: moving or directed or tending in a backward direction or contrary to a previous direction [syn: {retral}]
verb
1: move backward in an orbit, of celestial bodies
2: move in a direction contrary to the usual one; "retrograding planets"
3: move back; "The glacier retrogrades" [syn: {retreat}]
4: go back over; "retrograde arguments" [syn: {rehash}, {hash over}]
5: get worse; fall back to a previous or worse condition [syn: {regress}, {retrogress}] [ant: {progress}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
109 Moby Thesaurus words for "retrograde": aft, after, aftermost, atavistic, back, backslide, backward, cock, coming apart, cracking, crumbling, decadent, decline, declining, degenerate, descend, deteriorate, deteriorating, disimprove, disintegrate, disintegrating, draining, drooping, dwindling, ebbing, effete, fading, failing, fall astern, fall back, fall behind, falling, flagging, fragmenting, get behind, get worse, go backwards, go behind, going to pieces, grow worse, hind, hinder, hindermost, hindhand, hindmost, invert, jerk back, languishing, lapse, lapse back, let down, lose ground, marcescent, pining, posterior, postern, pull back, reactionary, rear, rearmost, rearward, recede, recessive, recidivate, recidivist, recidivous, regress, regressive, relapse, retract, retral, retreat, retroactive, retrocede, retrocessive, retroflex, retrogress, retrogressive, retrorse, retroverse, retrovert, return, returnable, reverse, reversible, reversional, reversionary, revert, revertible, revulsionary, rot, shriveling, sicken, sink, sinking, slacken, sliding, slip back, slipping, slumping, subsiding, tabetic, tail, waning, wasting, wilting, withering, worsen, worsening
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