Retrograde

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Retrograde \Re"tro*grade\, a. [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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              And if he be in the west side in that condition,
              then is he retrograde.                --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Tending or moving backward; having a backward course;
        contrary; as, a retrograde motion; -- opposed to
        {progressive}. "Progressive and not retrograde." --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is most retrograde to our desire.  --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Declining from a better to a worse state; as, a retrograde
        people; retrograde ideas, morals, etc. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Retrograde \Re"tro*grade\, v. i. [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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, to decline from a better to a worse condition, as
        in morals or intelligence.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  retrograde
       adj 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}]
       v 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