regress

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.

   “Its bearing on the progress or regress of man is not an inconsiderable question.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The power or liberty of passing back.

   “Thou shalt have egresse and regresse.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The right of a person (such as a lessee) to return to a property.

verb

1. (intransitive)To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.
2. (intransitive)To move backwards to an earlier stage; to devolve.

   “Your nightmares stopped when you were eight years old, but after the house burned down, you regressed.”

3. (intransitive)To move in the retrograde direction.
4. (intransitive)To reduce in severity or size (as of a tumor), without reaching total remission.
5. (transitive)To perform a regression on an explanatory variable.

   “When we regress Y on X, we use the values of variable X to predict those of Y.”

6. (transitive)To interrogate a person in a state of trance about forgotten elements of their past.

   “They regressed me, putting me under hypnosis. Then, through the hypnosis, they found out that our car was abducted right off the road and into a craft.”