PROGRESSIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does progressive mean? 

• PROGRESSIVE (noun)
  The noun PROGRESSIVE has 2 senses:

1. a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going

2. a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

  Familiarity information: PROGRESSIVE used as a noun is rare.

• PROGRESSIVE (adjective)
  The adjective PROGRESSIVE has 6 senses:

1. favoring or promoting progress

2. favoring or promoting reform (often by government action)

3. (of taxes) adjusted so that the rate increases as the amount of income increases

4. gradually advancing in extent

5. (of a card game or a dance) involving a series of sections for which the participants successively change place or relative position

6. advancing in severity

  Familiarity information: PROGRESSIVE used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROGRESSIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

continuous tense; imperfect; imperfect tense; progressive; progressive tense

Hypernyms ("progressive" is a kind of...):

tense (a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "progressive"):

present progressive; present progressive tense (a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance)

past progressive; past progressive tense (a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past)

future progressive; future progressive tense (a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

liberal; liberalist; progressive

Hypernyms ("progressive" is a kind of...):

adult; grownup (a fully developed person from maturity onward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "progressive"):

armchair liberal (a person of liberal ideals who takes no action to realize them)

latitudinarian (a person who is broad-minded and tolerant (especially in standards of religious belief and conduct))

neoliberal (a liberal who subscribes to neoliberalism)

pluralist (someone who believes that distinct ethnic or cultural or religious groups can exist together in society)

Whig (a member of the political party that urged social reform in 18th and 19th century England; was the opposition party to the Tories)

Derivation:

progressive (favoring or promoting reform (often by government action))

progressive (favoring or promoting progress)

• PROGRESSIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Favoring or promoting progress

Context example:

progressive schools

Similar:

advanced; forward-looking; innovative; modern (ahead of the times)

advancing; forward; forward-moving (moving forward)

modernised; modernized (brought up to date)

state-of-the-art (the highest level of development at a particular time (especially the present time))

Also:

forward (at or near or directed toward the front)

industrial (having highly developed industries)

Antonym:

regressive (opposing progress; returning to a former less advanced state)

Derivation:

progressive (a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties)

progressiveness (advancement toward better conditions or policies or methods)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Favoring or promoting reform (often by government action)

Synonyms:

progressive; reform-minded; reformist

Similar:

liberal (tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition)

Domain category:

administration; governance; governing; government; government activity (the act of governing; exercising authority)

Derivation:

progressive (a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties)

progressiveness; progressivity (advancement toward better conditions or policies or methods)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of taxes) adjusted so that the rate increases as the amount of income increases

Similar:

degressive ((of taxes) gradually decreasing in rate on sums below a certain amount)

Domain category:

revenue enhancement; tax; taxation (charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government)

Antonym:

regressive ((of taxes) adjusted so that the rate decreases as the amount of income increases)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Gradually advancing in extent

Similar:

increasing (becoming greater or larger)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(of a card game or a dance) involving a series of sections for which the participants successively change place or relative position

Context example:

progressive tournaments

Similar:

ordered (having a systematic arrangement; especially having elements succeeding in order according to rule)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Advancing in severity

Context example:

progressive paralysis

Similar:

active (tending to become more severe or wider in scope)

 Context examples 

A progressive, proliferative disease of blood cells, originating from immature erythroid cells.

(Acute Erythroid Leukemia, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A progressive, proliferative disease of blood cells, originating from immature lymphoid cells.

(Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that affects older adults.

(Study Points to Possible Blood Test For Memory Decline, Alzheimer’s, NIH)

If a treatment slows or stops the increase in free water, it might be evidence that the drug is slowing the progressive loss of dopamine neurons.

(Waterlogged brain region helps scientists gauge damage caused by Parkinson’s disease, National Institutes of Health)

RRMS is a progressive autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord.

(Stem cell transplants may halt progression of multiple sclerosis, NIH)

An inherited progressive disorder affecting the muscles.

(Myotonic Dystrophy, NCI Thesaurus)

It leads to progressive neurologic disorders, adrenal insufficiency and death.

(Adrenoleukodystrophy, NCI Thesaurus)

Patients present with progressive renal failure early in life.

(Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

The clinical course is characterized by the progressive growth of new and existing neoplasms.

(Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

A drug used to treat progressive medullary thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

(Cabozantinib-s-malate, NCI Dictionary)