From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishretrograderet‧ro‧grade /ˈretrəɡreɪd/ adjective 1 PROGRESS formal involving a return to an earlier and worse situation SYN backward The closure of the factories is seen as a retrograde step.2 technical moving backwards SYN backward
Examples from the Corpus
retrograde• Venus's rotation is retrograde.• The global health scene has been characterised by major steps forward but with some disturbing retrograde features.• retrograde racial politicsretrograde step• In view of the benevolent rule of the communes this might seem to have been retrograde step.• Mr. Hurd I do not think that it would be a retrograde step.• The trade in live exports will begin again which is a major retrograde step.• To eliminate the possibility of this would seem to be a retrograde step.• The closure of the plant is a retrograde step, as that technology is very much needed.• The appointment of Valuev was not quite the retrograde step that some contemporaries thought it to be.• I was told this was a retrograde step: what I was advocating was narrow nationalism in an age of increasing internationalism.Origin retrograde (1300-1400) Latin retrogradus, from gradi “to go” 