regress
gb/ɹˈiɡɹɛs/ us/ɹˈiɡɹɛs/
C1
English
Senses
0 senses
Verb
formal
C1
process
1
return to a worse state
to go back to an earlier or worse state
Usage pattern:
[someone/something] regresses; regress to/into [a state]
Common mistake:
Do not use regress for simply returning to a physical place; it usually means going backward in quality, development, or condition.
Synonyms
deteriorate (emphasizes getting worse, not necessarily returning to an earlier state)
|
backslide (often used for returning to bad habits or lower standards)
|
revert (means return to a previous state, without always implying that it is worse)
Antonyms
progress (move forward or improve rather than go backward)
|
improve (become better rather than worse)
|
develop (grow or advance rather than return to an earlier stage)
Collocations
begin to regress
|start to regress
|regress badly
|regress to an earlier stage
|regress to old habits
|regress into chaos
|regress into authoritarianism
|socially regress
Themes
change
|problems
|society
|development
Examples
- After several months of improvement, his reading skills began to regress.
- Without stronger institutions, the country could regress into authoritarian rule.
- Under pressure, the organization regressed to its old ways of working.
Learner examples
- The team improved at first, but then it regressed.
- We do not want the project to regress.
Verb
C1
process
2
revert to younger behavior
to start behaving in a younger or less mature way again
Usage pattern:
[someone] regresses; regress to [earlier behavior]
Common mistake:
In this meaning, regress is usually intransitive: a child regresses. Do not say regress a child unless you mean that someone deliberately causes a regression, as in therapy or hypnosis.
Synonyms
revert (more general; can describe any return to an earlier way of behaving)
|
act younger (plain, informal wording for the behavioral idea)
|
backslide (suggests slipping back into less mature or less healthy behavior)
Antonyms
mature (develop more adult or controlled behavior)
|
cope (manage stress without returning to earlier behavior)
|
develop (move forward to a later stage of growth)
Collocations
emotionally regress
|regress under stress
|regress to baby talk
|regress after a trauma
|regress after a new sibling
|developmentally regress
|seem to regress
Themes
psychology
|behavior
|children
|emotions
|health
Examples
- After the baby was born, their three-year-old regressed and started asking for a bottle again.
- Some adults regress to familiar coping patterns when they feel unsafe.
- Therapy helped him notice when he was regressing under stress.
Learner examples
- The child regressed after the move.
- When he is scared, he sometimes regresses.
Verb
technical
C1
process
3
shrink or become less severe
for a medical problem to get smaller or less serious
Usage pattern:
[a tumor/disease/symptom/lesion] regresses
Common mistake:
In medical use, regress is usually positive: the condition improves. Compare this with a patient regressing, which can mean the patient gets worse.
Synonyms
subside (common for symptoms becoming weaker or less intense)
|
recede (suggests moving back or becoming less prominent)
|
resolve (medical word meaning disappear or clear up)
Antonyms
progress (in medical contexts, means become more advanced or severe)
|
worsen (become more severe rather than less severe)
|
spread (for a disease or cancer, extend to more areas rather than shrink)
Collocations
a tumor regresses
|a lesion regresses
|symptoms regress
|spontaneously regress
|regress completely
|regress after treatment
|gradually regress
Themes
medicine
|health
|disease
Examples
- The lesions usually regress within a few weeks.
- In rare cases, the tumor may regress without treatment.
- Her symptoms regressed after the medication was changed.
Learner examples
- The rash regressed after treatment.
- Doctors hope the tumor will regress.
Verb
technical
C1
action
4
fit a regression model
to use a statistical method to study how one variable is related to others
Usage pattern:
regress [dependent variable] on/against [independent variable(s)]
Common mistake:
In statistics, the usual pattern is regress Y on X: Y is the outcome being modeled, and X is the predictor or predictors.
Synonyms
model (broader; does not necessarily specify regression)
|
fit (often means estimate a statistical model from data)
|
run a regression (common informal phrase for performing regression analysis)
Collocations
regress Y on X
|regress wages on education
|regress sales against ad spending
|regress the outcome on predictors
|regress the dependent variable
|regress with controls
|linearly regress
Themes
statistics
|data
|research
|economics
|science
Examples
- The researcher regressed wages on education, age, and region.
- We regressed customer spending against the number of visits to the site.
- Before drawing conclusions, the team regressed the outcome on several control variables.
Learner examples
- They regressed income on years of education.
- The analyst regressed sales against price.
Verb
technical
C1
action
5
break after a software change
for software to become worse again after a change, or for a change to make it worse
Usage pattern:
[a change/version] regresses [a feature/performance]; [a feature/test] regresses
Common mistake:
This is developer language. In everyday English, say made it worse, broke it again, or caused a new bug.
Synonyms
break (informal developer word for causing software to stop working correctly)
|
degrade (often refers to worse performance or quality)
|
reintroduce a bug (more specific; means bring back a problem that had been fixed)
Antonyms
fix (remove a problem rather than bring it back)
|
improve (make performance or quality better rather than worse)
|
stabilize (make the software more reliable rather than less reliable)
Collocations
regress performance
|regress a feature
|regress functionality
|regress startup time
|avoid regressing tests
|the build regressed
|a recent change regressed
Themes
software
|technology
|programming
|testing
Examples
- The new release fixed the crash but regressed performance on older phones.
- Please add a test so we do not regress this feature again.
- Startup time regressed after the latest build.
Learner examples
- The update regressed the app's performance.
- A test can show if the feature regressed.
Noun
formal
C2
process
6
a backward return
a change back to an earlier or worse condition
Usage pattern:
a regress; a regress to/into/from [a state]
Common mistake:
The noun regression is much more common than a regress in everyday and technical use.
Synonyms
backsliding (suggests slipping back into bad habits or lower standards)
|
retrogression (very formal word for backward movement or decline)
|
setback (more common; means a problem that delays or reverses progress)
Antonyms
progress (forward movement or improvement)
|
advance (a positive step forward)
|
improvement (a change for the better)
Collocations
a serious regress
|a dangerous regress
|social regress
|political regress
|moral regress
|mark a regress
|prevent a regress
|a regress from reform
Themes
change
|society
|politics
|development
Examples
- Critics called the law a serious regress for civil rights.
- The report describes the policy as a regress from earlier reforms.
- The abrupt regress into old habits surprised the coach.
Learner examples
- The change was a regress, not an improvement.
- They feared a regress from democracy.
Grammar
Dictionary form
regress
IPA
GB/ɹˈiɡɹɛs/
US/ɹˈiɡɹɛs/
Syllables & stress
re - gress (2 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (re)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: regress
- Plural: regress
Verb
- Base: regress
- 3rd Person Singular: regresses
- Present Participle: regressing
- Past: regressed
Expressions
infinite regress
1/ˈɪnfɪnɪt ɹˈiɡɹɛs/
fixed phrase
formal
endless chain of explanations
In philosophy or logic, a situation where each reason or cause needs another reason or cause before it, and this chain never ends.
Examples
- The argument fails because it leads to an infinite regress.
- Philosophers try to avoid an infinite regress when explaining knowledge.
- Positing a cause for every cause would create an infinite regress.
infinite regress
1/ˈɪnfɪnɪt ɹˈiɡɹɛs/
fixed phrase
formal
endless chain of explanation
a chain of answers or causes that goes back forever and never reaches a final explanation
Examples
- If every rule needs another rule to justify it, the argument falls into an infinite regress.
- The question "Who created the creator?" is often used to illustrate an infinite regress.
- She rejected the theory because it seemed to produce an infinite regress of causes.
regress to the mean
1/ɹˈiɡɹɛs tə ðə mˈin/
fixed phrase
technical
move back toward average
to return toward a normal or average level after an unusually high or low result
Examples
- After an unusually successful quarter, sales regressed to the mean.
- Extreme survey scores often regress to the mean when the measurement is repeated.
- Teams that win many close games often regress to the mean the next season.