I just read the word "retrogressive" in an article with a political bent. I hadn't heard the word before. Is the difference between "retrogressive" and "regressive" that in the latter you return to the previous state, while to retrogress means to return to a worse state? Yet, one of the definitions of "regress" is "to returen to a previous, usually worse or less developed state." Or, some of the definitions of "retrogress" are to return to a less complex state; is that the distinction between the two words?

How are retrogression and regression different?

The only answer to your question that I can find is that they are spelt differently!

My old Oxford Universal Dictionary defines 'Regression' as 'Return to or into a state or condition; relapse; reversion to a less developed form (1646)' while it defines 'Retrogression' as 'going back in respect of development or condition; return to a less advanced state or stage'.

It seems to me that that's as near to the same thing as makes no odds although the word 'retogression' is far more modern, dating from 1768. As if that's important!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doad,

My thought, too, was that they don't seem to have much difference. I wondered if the distinction was that with one you return to a previous state, but with the other you return to a worse state. However, apparently that's not the case.

BTW, I was confused as to your phrase: "that's as near to the same thing as makes no odds." Is that British phraseology?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kalleh:
BTW, I was confused as to your phrase: "that's as near to the same thing as makes no odds." Is that British phraseology?


I have no idea how many other people use that phrase in Britain, if any. I actually adapted it from the novel 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' by Douglas Adams in which we encounter the phrase 'Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds'. For some reason that phrase really appealed to me and I've used it in various forms ever since.

Interesting, Doad. Does anyone else here use that phrase?