regress
return to a worse state
to go back to an earlier or worse state
[someone/something] regresses; regress to/into [a state]
- 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.
- The team improved at first, but then it regressed.
- We do not want the project to regress.
revert to younger behavior
to start behaving in a younger or less mature way again
[someone] regresses; regress to [earlier behavior]
- 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.
- The child regressed after the move.
- When he is scared, he sometimes regresses.
shrink or become less severe
for a medical problem to get smaller or less serious
[a tumor/disease/symptom/lesion] regresses
- 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.
- The rash regressed after treatment.
- Doctors hope the tumor will regress.
fit a regression model
to use a statistical method to study how one variable is related to others
regress [dependent variable] on/against [independent variable(s)]
- 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.
- They regressed income on years of education.
- The analyst regressed sales against price.
break after a software change
for software to become worse again after a change, or for a change to make it worse
[a change/version] regresses [a feature/performance]; [a feature/test] regresses
- 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.
- The update regressed the app's performance.
- A test can show if the feature regressed.
a backward return
a change back to an earlier or worse condition
a regress; a regress to/into/from [a state]
- 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.
- The change was a regress, not an improvement.
- They feared a regress from democracy.
- Base: regress
- Plural: regress
- Base: regress
- 3rd Person Singular: regresses
- Present Participle: regressing
- Past: regressed
infinite regress
1endless 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.
- 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
1endless chain of explanation
a chain of answers or causes that goes back forever and never reaches a final explanation
- 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
1move back toward average
to return toward a normal or average level after an unusually high or low result
- 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.