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
Origin:
ME < L retrogradus < retrogradi, to go backward: see retro- & grade
intransitive verb retrograded, retrograding
- to go, or seem to go, backward
- to become worse; decline; deteriorate; degenerate
- Astron. to have a retrograde motion
Origin:
L retrogradi