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retrograde
adjective
- moving or directed backward; retiring or retreating
- inverse or reverse: said of order
- going back or tending to go back to an earlier, esp. worse, condition; retrogressive
- Obsolete opposed; contrary
- Astron. moving in an orbit opposite to the usual orbital direction of similar celestial bodies, as opposite to the direction of the earth in its journey around the sun
- Astrol. designating motion, real or apparent, on the celestial sphere in a direction from east to west
- Music designating motion backward in a melody, specif. so as to begin with the last note and end with the first
intransitive verb retrograded, retrograding
- to go, or seem to go, backward
- to become worse; decline; deteriorate; degenerate
- Astron. to have a retrograde motion
Related Forms:
- retrogradation noun
- retrogradely adverb
See retrograde in American Heritage Dictionary 4
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