retrograde

/ˈɹɛtɹə(ʊ)ɡɹeɪd/

retrograde means directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.

retrograde is pronounced /ˈɹɛtɹə(ʊ)ɡɹeɪd/.

Why “retrograde” is a great word

Moving or directed backwards, or reverting to an inferior or less developed state. From Middle English retrograd, from Middle French and Old French retrograde, from Latin retrōgradus, from retrō ("backwards") + gradus ("step"). Unlike anterograde, which denotes a steady biological progression forward, or prograde, which describes the expected forward spin of a planet, retrograde is the step taken in reverse. It is Mars crawling backward against the fixed stars, a rocket firing to slow its descent, and a civilization dismantling its own libraries—the quiet, universal motion that knows its destination only because it has been there before.

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English retrograd, retrograde (“of a planet: appearing to move in a direction opposite to the order of the zodiac signs, retrograde; unfortunate”), from Middle French retrograde and Old French retrograde (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards; moving backwards; reverse; palindromic; opposed to change”) (modern French rétrograde), and from their etymon Latin retrōgradus (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards”) (compare Late Latin retrōgradus (“reverse; palindromic”)), from retrō (“back, backwards; behind; before, formerly”) + gradus (“pace, step”). By surface analysis, retro- + -grade. The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

adj

Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.
Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.
Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.; Of an animal: appearing to regress to a less developed form during its lifetime.
Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.
Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.; Having a passage of music played backwards.
Of ideas or a person: opposing social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; conservative.“retrograde ideas, morals, etc.”
Involving a return to or a retracing of a previous course of travel.
Counterproductive to a desired outcome; contradictory, contrary.“In going back to school in Wittenberg, / It is most retrograde to our desire: / And we beseech you, bend you to remain”
Of a celestial body orbiting another: in the opposite direction to the orbited body's spin.
Of a celestial body: seeming to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.“Mercury retrograde”
Of a metamorphic change: resulting from a decrease in pressure or temperature.
Of amnesia: relating to the period leading up to the episode which caused it.
Of verse: reading the same forwards or backwards; palindromic.

adv

In a reverse direction; backwards.

noun

A movement backwards or opposite to the intended or normal motion.
A movement backwards or opposite to the intended or normal motion.; The apparent movement of a planet across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.
One who opposes social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; a conservative.
One who reneges on an agreement, or switches loyalties; a rebel, a renegade.
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.

verb

To cause (a land feature such as a coastline or waterfall) to undergo retrogradation, that is, to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion.
To change (minerals, rocks, etc.) metamorphically through a decrease in pressure or temperature.
To cause (someone or something) to revert to an inferior or less developed state.
To revert to an inferior or less developed state; to decline, to regress.“[…] Monna Brigida, who had retrograded to false hair in Romola's absence, but now drew it off again and declared she would not mind being gray, if her dear child would stay with her.”
Of a celestial body, especially a planet: to show retrogradation; to seem to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.
Of a land feature: to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion.
To retreat or withdraw from a position.
To move backwards; to recede.“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.”
Of the telling of an incident, etc.: to move to an earlier time.

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

retrogress 90% match — To return to an earlier, simpler or worse condition; to regress. vs retrograde →
retrovert 87% match — To turn back; to return to a previous state. vs retrograde →
retrocede 84% match — To grant back. vs retrograde →
retrospective 84% match — Of, relating to, or contemplating the past. vs retrograde →
retroject 83% match — To project into the past; to insert anachronistically into a historical reconstruction. vs retrograde →
obliquity 82% match — The quality of being oblique in direction, deviating from the horizontal or vertical; or the angle created by such a deviation. vs retrograde →
retrodiction 82% match — A form of "prediction" that deals with the past rather than the future, sometimes useful in testing theories whose actual predictions are too long-term to be of immediate use. vs retrograde →
digress 82% match — To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking. vs retrograde →