Pro|gres|sive

pro|gres|sive «pruh GREHS ihv», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. making progress; advancing to something better; improving: »

a progressive nation.

2. favoring progress; wanting improvement or reform in government, religion, or business: »

He is blamed…for helping to keep the Administration on a progressive course (Time).

3. moving forward; going ahead; developing: »

a progressive disease.

4. going from one to the next; involving shifts of players or guests from one table to another: »

progressive bridge.

5. of, following, or based on the theories and practices of progressive education: »

a progressive school; ... a progressive curriculum which includes regular courses (Newsweek).

6. Grammar. showing the action as going on. Is reading, was reading, and has been reading are progressive forms of read.

7. Phonetics. (of assimilation) in which a preceding sound influences one that follows.

8. increasing in proportion to the increase of something else: »

A progressive income tax is one whose rate goes up as a person's earnings increase.

–n.

1. a person who favors improvement and reform in government, religion, or business: »

Our doctor is a progressive in his beliefs.

2. = progressivist. (Cf. ↑progressivist)

–pro|gres´sive|ly, adverb.

–pro|gres´sive|ness, noun.

Pro|gres|sive «pruh GREHS ihv», adjective, noun.

–adj.

of a Progressive Party.

–n.

a member of a Progressive Party.