# retrograde

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɹɛtɹə(ʊ)ɡɹeɪd/ · frequency rank #25,906

## Definitions
1. Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.
2. Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.
3. Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.
4. Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.
5. Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.
6. Of ideas or a person: opposing social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; conservative.
7. Involving a return to or a retracing of a previous course of travel.
8. Counterproductive to a desired outcome; contradictory, contrary.
9. Of a celestial body orbiting another: in the opposite direction to the orbited body's spin.
10. Of a celestial body: seeming to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.
11. Of a metamorphic change: resulting from a decrease in pressure or temperature.
12. Of amnesia: relating to the period leading up to the episode which caused it.
13. Of verse: reading the same forwards or backwards; palindromic.

## Etymology
The adjective is derived from Middle English retrograd, retrograde (“of a planet: appearing to move in a direction opposite to the order of the zodiac signs, retrograde; unfortunate”), from Middle French retrograde and Old French retrograde (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards; moving backwards; reverse; palindromic; opposed to change”) (modern French rétrograde), and from their etymon Latin retrōgradus (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards”) (compare Late Latin retrōgradus (“reverse; palindromic”)), from retrō (“back, backwards; behind; before, formerly”) + gradus (“pace, step”). By surface analysis, retro- + -grade.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

## Common misspellings (15)
`ertrograde`, `rertograde`, `retorgrade`, `retrgorade`, `retrogarde`, `retroggrade`, `retrogradde`, `retrograed`, `retrogrdae`, `retrogrrade`, `retrorgade`, `retrrograde`, `rettrograde`, `rretrograde`, `rterograde`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/retrograde