retrograde

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛtɹəˌɡɹeɪd/

From Middle English, from Latin retrōgradus, from retrō (“backwards”) + gradus (“step”).

retrograde (comparative more retrograde, superlative most retrograde)

1. Directed backwards, retreating; reverting, especially to an inferior state, declining; inverse, reverse; movement opposite to normal or intended motion, often circular motion.

   retrograde ideas, morals, etc.

2. Counterproductive to a desired outcome.
   • 1601 - William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act I Scene ii.

     In going back to school in Wittenberg, / It is most retrograde to our desire:/ And we beseech you, bend you to remain

3. (astronomy, of a body orbiting another) In the opposite direction to the orbited body's spin.
4. (geology) Describing a metamorphic change resulting from a decreasing pressure or temperature.
5. (by extension, of a person) A person who opposes social reforms, favoring the maintenance of the status quo, conservative.

• traditionalist
• reactionary

• liberal
• reformist
• progressist

• anterograde
• prograde

retrograde (plural retrogrades)

1. A degenerate person.
2. (music) The reversal of a melody so that what is played first in the original melody is played last and what is played last in the original melody is played first.

From Latin retrōgradior or Late Latin retrogredere (retro- (“back”) + gradi (“walk”)).

retrograde (third-person singular simple present retrogrades, present participle retrograding, simple past and past participle retrograded)

1. (intransitive) To move backwards; to recede; to retire; to decline; to revert.
   • 1845, Joseph C. Neal, “The Moral of Goslyne Greene, who was Born to a Fortune”, in The Gift: A Christmas, New Year, and Birthday Present, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey and Hart, OCLC 2914286, page 68:

     A dabble in the stocks does not always turn out profitably; cotton is sometimes heavy on our hands, and real estate will sulkily retrograde, when, by the calculation, it ought to have advanced.

2. (intransitive, astronomy) To show retrogradation.

• retrogress
• retrogression
• retrogressive

• prograde
• direct

• retrogarde

retrograde

1. inflection of retrograd:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

retrograde

1. feminine plural of retrogrado

retrograde

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of retrogradar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of retrogradar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of retrogradar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of retrogradar.