progress definition

English progress definition

Etymology 1

From Middle English progresse, from Old French progres (“a going forward”), from Latin prōgressus (“an advance”), from the participle stem of prōgredī (“to go forward, advance, develop”), from pro- (“forth, before”) +‎ gradi (“to walk, go”). Displaced native Old English forþgang.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: prō'grĕs, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹəʊɡɹɛs/
• (US) enPR: prä'grĕs, prō'grĕs, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑɡɹɛs/, /-ɹəs/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊɡɹɛs, -ɒɡɹɛs

Noun

progress (countable and uncountable, plural progresses)

1. Movement or advancement through a series of events, or points in time; development through time. [from 15th c.]

   Testing for the new antidote is currently in progress.

2. Specifically, advancement to a higher or more developed state; development, growth. [from 15th c.]
   • 2012 January 1, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 1, page 60:

     Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.

   Science has made extraordinary progress in the last fifty years.

3. An official journey made by a monarch or other high personage; a state journey, a circuit. [from 15th c.]
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 3174108:

     ... Queen Elizabeth in one of her progresses, stopping at Crawley to breakfast, was so delighted with some remarkably fine Hampshire beer which was then presented to her by the Crawley of the day (a handsome gentleman with a trim beard and a good leg), that she forthwith erected Crawley into a borough to send two members to Parliament ...

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 124:

     With the king about to go on progress, the trials and executions were deliberately timed.

4. (now rare) A journey forward; travel. [from 15th c.]
   • 1887, Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders:

     Now Tim began to be struck with these loitering progresses along the garden boundaries in the gloaming, and wondered what they boded.

5. Movement onwards or forwards or towards a specific objective or direction; advance. [from 16th c.]

   The thick branches overhanging the path made progress difficult.

Usage notes

• To make progress is often used instead of the verb progress. This allows complex modification of progress in ways that cannot be well approximated by adverbs modifying the verb. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Derived terms

• work-in-progress

Translations

Etymology 2

From the noun. Lapsed into disuse in the 17th century, except in the US. Considered an Americanism on reintroduction to use in the UK.

Pronunciation

• enPR: prəgrĕs', IPA^(key): /pɹəˈɡɹɛs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

progress (third-person singular simple present progresses, present participle progressing, simple past and past participle progressed)

1. (intransitive) To move, go, or proceed forward; to advance.

   Visitors progress through the museum at their own pace.

   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.

2. (intransitive) To develop.

   Societies progress unevenly.

   1. (by extension) To improve; to become better or more complete.
3. (transitive) To expedite.
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 266:

     Or […] they came to progress matters in which Dudley had taken a hand, and left defrauded or bound over to the king.

Antonyms

• regress
• retrogress

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• progress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• progress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latvian progress definition

Etymology

Via other European languages, ultimately borrowed from Latin prōgressus (“an advance”), from the participle stem of prōgredī (“to go forward, advance, develop”), from pro- (“forth, before”) + gradi (“to walk, go”).

Pronunciation

Noun

progress m (1st declension)

1. progress (development, esp. to a higher, fuller, more advanced state; transition from a lower to a higher level)

   sociālais progress ― social progress

   cilvēces progress ― humanity's progress

   ražošanas efektivitātes paaugstināšanās pamats ir zinātniski tehniskais progress ― the basis for the increase in production effectivity is scientific and technical progress

   mākslas progress - tā nav vienkārša attīstība ― art progress: this is no simple evolution

   Synonyms: attīstība, evolūcija

Declension

Related terms