regress
verb/ɹɪˈɡɹɛs/
Etymology (verb) From Latin regressus, past participle of regredior (“to go back”), from re- (“back”) + gradior (“to go”). Doublet of regressus.
1
To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
2
Human sciences, Psychology, Sciences To re-develop behavior one had previously grown out of, particularly a behavior left behind in childhood.
- Your nightmares stopped when you were eight years old, but after the house burned down, you regressed.
3
Astronomy, Natural sciences To move in the retrograde direction.
4
Medicine, Sciences To reduce in severity or size (as of a tumor), without reaching total remission.
5
Mathematics, Sciences, Statistics To perform a regression on an explanatory variable.
- When we regress Y on X, we use the values of variable X to predict those of Y.
6
To interrogate a person in a state of trance about forgotten elements of their past.
- They regressed me, putting me under hypnosis. Then, through the hypnosis, they found out that our car was abducted right off the road and into a craft.2018, Michael Brein, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Road to Strange: UFOs, Aliens and High Strangeness:
- Derived terms
- pet regress, regressand, regresser, regressor
- Related terms
- regression, regressive