regressive

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective (of taxes) adjusted so that the rate decreases as the amount of income increases
adjective opposing progress; returning to a former less advanced state

Borrowed from Latin regressīvus, equivalent to regress + -ive.

A conception of regressive or spiral evolution might reconcile the two views. — A history of economic doctrines : $b from the time of the physiocrats to the present day, Charles Gide
The cosmological ideas are therefore occupied with the totality of the regressive synthesis, and proceed in antecedentia, not in consequentia. — The Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant

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