Meaning & use
progressive
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableapproving
Supporting new ideas and social or political change, rather than keeping things as they have always been.
Grammar: Can be used before a noun or after a verb: a progressive school; the school is quite progressive.
Patterns
- progressive policies
- progressive views on something
The town elected a progressive mayor who wanted cleaner transport.
Her school was known for progressive teaching methods.
They hold fairly progressive views on education.
adjectivebefore a nounmedical
Developing or advancing step by step over time, often with the situation steadily getting worse.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: a progressive disease, not 'the disease is progressive' as often.
Patterns
- progressive disease
- progressive decline
Doctors described the condition as progressive.
There has been a progressive decline in sales since spring.
The course offers progressive levels of difficulty.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Describing a verb form that shows an action in progress, such as 'is reading'.
Grammar: Used in grammar terms: the present progressive tense.
Patterns
- progressive tense
- progressive form
'She is cooking' uses the present progressive.
Learners often overuse the progressive form with state verbs.
nouncountable
A person who favors social or political reform.
Grammar: Countable: a progressive, several progressives.
The progressives in the party pushed for new housing laws.
She has always been a progressive.
Word forms
| comparative | more progressive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most progressive |
Common combinations
- progressive policy
- The city adopted a progressive policy on recycling.
- progressive disease
- It is a slow, progressive disease.
- progressive tax
- A progressive tax takes more from higher earners.
- present progressive
- The present progressive describes ongoing actions.
- politically progressive
- The region is politically progressive.
Synonyms and how they differ
- liberal
- Liberal stresses personal freedom and tolerance, while progressive stresses pushing for change.
- reformist
- Reformist implies a plan to change existing systems, and sounds more political.
- gradual
- Gradual only says that something happens slowly, without any sense of getting worse or being modern.
Opposites
Word family
- progress noun
- forward movement or improvement
- progressively adverb
- step by step, increasingly
- progressivism noun
- belief in social or political reform
Commonly confused: progressive or progressing?
progressive vs progressing
Progressing is the -ing form of the verb progress; progressive is an adjective describing ideas or gradual change.
Practice
The illness is ___, so doctors expect the symptoms to worsen slowly over several years.
Choose one answer.
A progressive illness advances in stages. 'Regressive' means going backward, and 'aggressive' and 'impressive' do not describe the pattern of an illness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “progressive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.