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regression

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

10 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "regression", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "regression" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "regression" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

regression is aEnglishnoun. It means: An action of regressing, a return to a previous state. Pronounced /ɹɪˈɡɹɛʃ.ən/. Often confused with repression and regressive.

Key facts for regression
PropertyValue
Headwordregression
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɹɪˈɡɹɛʃ.ən/
Letters10
Frequency rank#15,043
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of regression in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for regression is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɪˈɡɹɛʃ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,043 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 14 documented wrong-spelling variants for regression, with forms such as "ergression", "regerssion", and "reggression". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "repression", "regressive", "recession", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin regressio. Equivalent to regress + -ion. The statistics sense comes from regression to the mean. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is regression, spelled R-E-G-R-E-S-S-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An action of regressing, a return to a previous state.
  2. 2
    An action of travelling mentally back in time.
  3. 3
    A psychotherapeutic method whereby healing is facilitated by inducing the patient to act out behaviour typical of an earlier developmental stage.
  4. 4
    An analytic method to measure the association of one or more independent variables with a dependent variable.
  5. 5
    An equation using specified and associated data for two or more variables such that one variable can be estimated from the remaining variable(s).
  6. 6
    The reappearance of a bug in a piece of software that had previously been fixed.
  7. 7
    The diminishing of a cellular mass like a tumor, or of an organ size.
  8. 8
    The making an exercise less straining to perform by manipulating the details of its performance like loaded weight, range of motion, angle, speed.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin regressio. Equivalent to regress + -ion. The statistics sense comes from regression to the mean.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ergression,regerssion,reggression,regresion,regresison,regressino,regressionn,regressoin,regrestion,regrression,regrsesion,rergession,rgeression,rregression

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for regression

Misspelling Variants of "regression"

ergression10regerssion10reggression11regresion9regresison10regressino10regressionn11regressoin10
Misspelling Variants of "regression"

Frequency rank: #15,043 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "regression"?
"regression" is spelled R-E-G-R-E-S-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹɪˈɡɹɛʃ.ən/.
What does "regression" mean?
As a noun, "regression" means: An action of regressing, a return to a previous state.
What words are commonly confused with "regression"?
"regression" is commonly confused with "repression", "regressive", "recession". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "regression"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "regression" is /ɹɪˈɡɹɛʃ.ən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "regression"?
Learned borrowing from Latin regressio. Equivalent to regress + -ion. The statistics sense comes from regression to the mean. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.