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retrograde Definition

retro·grade (re′trə grād′)

adjective

  1. moving or directed backward; retiring or retreating
  2. inverse or reverse: said of order
  3. going back or tending to go back to an earlier, esp. worse, condition; retrogressive
  4. Obsolete opposed; contrary
    1. 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
    2. Astrol. designating motion, real or apparent, on the celestial sphere in a direction from east to west
  6. Music designating motion backward in a melody, specif. so as to begin with the last note and end with the first

Etymology: ME < L retrogradus < retrogradi, to go backward: see retro- & grade

intransitive verb -·grad′ed, -·grad′·ing

  1. to go, or seem to go, backward
  2. to become worse; decline; deteriorate; degenerate
  3. Astron. to have a retrograde motion

Etymology: L retrogradi

retrograde Related Forms
ret′ro·gra·da′·tion (-grā dā′s̸hən, -grə dā′-) noun ret′ro·grade′ly adverb
retrograde Synonyms

retrograde

modif.

  1. Backward

    retrogressive, regressive, recessive; see backward 1, reversed.

  2. Degenerate

    crumbling, decrepit, rotting; see decaying.

retrograde Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • still: Click the image for an enlargement Jupiter is still retrograding toward the open cluster M 44 ( Beehive Cluster ).
  • back: I think the we are seeing the society retrograde back into a religious stage.
  • also: With Jupiter also retrograde ( from 5th ), the effect of pooling resources could be considered.
  • seriously: So I strongly believe that not having a midwife-led unit on Portsea Island would be a seriously retrograde step.
  • very: Gerald Adler, a retired academic, said: " It is a very, very retrograde step.
  • entirely: As an esthetic or poetic this is entirely retrograde and reveals a mistaken view of the creative process.

Modifies a noun

  • cholangiopancreatography: Does the procedure, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography give you acute pancreatitis?
  • ejaculation: There is no hazard to your health from retrograde ejaculation.
  • cholangio-pancreatography: ERCP: Georgia Tech's Biomedical interactive center has produced the Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography surgical simulator.
  • amnesia: There is some degree of retrograde amnesia in children.
  • orbit: Could it be Nibiru, a brown dwarf in a retrograde elliptical orbit around the Sun?
  • motion: The retrograde motion of a superior planet in the sky.

Used with adjective complement

  • turn: About three times a year, Mercury turns retrograde.
  • go: What does Mars going retrograde do to all of this?
retrograde Quotes

All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

—Gibbon, Edward