ret·ro·grade
(rĕt́rə-grād́)
[Middle English, from Latin retrōgradus, from retrōgradī, to go back, retrō-, retro-, + -gradus, walking (from gradī, to go; see ghredh-).]
adjective
- Moving or tending backward.
- Opposite to the usual order; inverted or reversed.
- Reverting to an earlier or inferior condition.
- Astronomy
- Of or relating to the orbital revolution or axial rotation of a planetary or other celestial body that moves clockwise from east to west, in the direction opposite to most celestial bodies.
- Of or relating to the brief, regularly occurring, apparently backward movement of a planetary body in its orbit as viewed against the fixed stars, caused by the differing orbital velocities of Earth and the body observed.
- Archaic Opposed; contrary.
intransitive verb: -grad·ed, -grad·ing, -grades.
- To move or seem to move backward. See synonyms at recede1
- To decline to an inferior state; degenerate.
derivatives
- ret́ro·gra·dátion
- noun
- ret́ro·gradély
- adverb
