noun
regression
rih-GREHSH-uhn
noun
1
A return to an earlier, usually less developed or less desirable, state.
"Therapists sometimes see regression in patients under extreme stress."
2
A statistical method used to measure how one variable relates to, or can predict, another.
"She ran a regression to see how advertising spend affected sales."
3
The reappearance of a software bug that had previously been fixed.
"The update introduced a regression in the login screen."
How to Use Regression
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishFalling back to an earlier state — used in psychology, statistics, and software testing in different specific ways.
Common pairings
linear regression
regression testing
emotional regression
Word Forms
regressions plural
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Therapists sometimes see _____ in patients under extreme stress.
Etymology
A learned borrowing from Latin regressio, built on regress plus -ion. The statistical sense comes from the phrase "regression to the mean."