ret´ro|grade´ly

ret|ro|grade «REHT ruh grayd», adjective, verb, -grad|ed, -grad|ing.

–adj.

1. moving backward; retreating.

2. becoming worse; declining; deteriorating.

3. inverse or reversed: »

retrograde order. After the brilliant quantitative work of W. D. Wright,…it seems somewhat retrograde to examine one's sensations with little pieces of coloured paper (Tansley and Weale).

4. Astronomy. characterized by retrogradation.

5. Aerospace. having negative acceleration; producing thrust opposed to forward motion: »

To bring a satellite to earth, scientists use devices called retrograde rockets, or, in space jargon, retrorockets (James J. Haggerty, Jr.).

6. Obsolete. opposed; contrary: »

It is most retrograde to our desire (Shakesare).

–v.i.

1. to move or go backward.

2. to fall back toward a worse condition; grow worse; decline; deteriorate: »

All that is human must retrograde if it do not advance (Edward Gibbon).

3. Astronomy. (of a planet or asteroid) to appear to move backward from east to west: »

Once during each synodic period the planet turns and moves westward, or retrogrades, for a time before resuming the eastward motion (Robert H. Baker).

–v.t.

to cause to go backward; turn back: »

We see, now, events forced on, which seem to retard or retrograde the civility of ages (Emerson).

╂[< Latin retrōgradus < retrōgradī to go back < retrō- backward + gradī to go, step]

–ret´ro|grade´ly, adverb.