Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Moving forward; advancing.
- adjective Proceeding in steps; continuing steadily by increments.
- adjective Open to or favoring new ideas, policies, or methods.
- adjective Of or relating to a Progressive Party.
- adjective Of or relating to progressive education.
- adjective Increasing in rate as the taxable amount increases.
- adjective Tending to become more severe or wider in scope.
- adjective Grammar Designating a verb form that expresses an action or condition in progress.
- adjective Music Of or being a style that emphasizes virtuoso technique, rhythmic and melodic complexity, and unconventional forms and instrumentation.
- noun A person who is open to or favors new ideas, policies, or methods, especially in politics.
- noun A member or supporter of a Progressive Party.
- noun Grammar A progressive verb form.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Going forward; moving onward; advancing; making progress, in any sense: as, progressive motion or course.
- Favoring progress; using one's influence or directing one's efforts in the line of advancement or improvement: as, to be progressive in one's ideas about education; a progressive age.
- Indicative of progress.
- and a myopathic form, related to pseudohypertrophic paralysis.
- noun One who is in favor of progress; one who promotes or commends reforms or changes: opposed to conservative.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Moving forward; proceeding onward; advancing; evincing progress; increasing; ; -- opposed to
retrograde . - adjective Improving.
- adjective (U. S. History) Of or pertaining to the Progressive party.
- adjective Favoring improvement, change, progress, or reform, especially in a political context; -- used of people. Contrasted with
conservative . - adjective Disposed toward adopting new methods in government or education, holding tolerant and liberal ideas, and generally favoring improvement in civic life; -- of towns and communities.
- adjective a way of playing at card parties, by which after every game, the losers at the first table go to the last table, and the winners at all the tables, except the first, move up to the next table.
- adjective (Med.) a nervous disorder characterized by continuous atrophy of the muscles.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Favouring or promoting progress;
advanced . - adjective Gradually advancing in extent;
increasing . - adjective Promoting or favoring progress towards improved conditions or new policies, ideas or methods.
- adjective Of or relating to progressive education.
- adjective of an income tax or other tax Increasing in rate as the taxable amount increases.
- adjective Advancing in severity.
- adjective
liberal (politically) - adjective grammar
continuous - noun A person who actively favors or strives for progress towards improved conditions, as in society or government.
- noun grammar A
progressive verb .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
- adjective favoring or promoting reform (often by government action)
- adjective favoring or promoting progress
- noun a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
- adjective gradually advancing in extent
- adjective (of taxes) adjusted so that the rate increases as the amount of income increases
- adjective advancing in severity
- adjective (of a card game or a dance) involving a series of sections for which the participants successively change place or relative position
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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They use the term progressive to try to put such unequal taxation in a positive light.
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The term progressive is coming in for a beating these days, pilloried as an all-purpose catch phrase signifying nothing more than a vague discomfort with nouveau riche investment bankers popping open too many bottles of Veuve at the weekend.
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Douglas Bell 2010
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So if I am reading these comments correctly ... "progressive" is now the code word for "far left" and "moderate" is the code word for "liberal" ...
Liberal Dems 'stand in strong opposition' to Sebelius statement 2009
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The term "progressive" in the context of income taxes is nothing more than a euphemism for unfair.
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It seems that a number of names and tendencies are being grouped together under the term progressive that do not group well at all.
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In fact, the term progressive means to proceed in stages.
Cynthia Boaz: A Reality (and Sanity) Check for Progressives- Speech to Petaluma Progressive Festival Cynthia Boaz 2010
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Now, I use the term progressive to specifically refer only to an affirmative, ongoing action in the realis mood while non-progressive covers everything else, including negative actions regardless of aspect or tense.
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Thus the label progressive itself represents very little in the way of historical continuity.
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I will even grant that there are significant areas where secular progressives and evangelicals (to whom the label progressive can sometimes also apply) could come to fruitful agreement.
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I used the term progressive in my bio before it was the popular term.
thtownse commented on the word progressive
Ooh, I hate this one too.
April 20, 2010
ethnofinancecologist commented on the word progressive
The true and useful meaning of progressive is to indicate positive movement or development, whereas in TaxVampirespeke, it is a stand-in for policies which are little more than the petulant result of thinly-veiled jealousy by people whose core religious faith lies in unreasoning, punitive assaults on capital, as well as attacks on the fine people who bring the social body such terrible things as jobs and the chance to live a life of purpose and dignity.
May 27, 2010