progressive

/prəˈgrɛsɪv/

/prəʊˈgrɛsɪv/

Other forms: progressives

People who are progressive favor reform and believe that government should play a big role in improving society. This word is the opposite of conservative, which means "favoring tradition; resistant to change."

Although it's often used in political contexts as a synonym of liberal, progressive can also be used in a more general sense. You're a progressive thinker if you like to come up with new ways of doing things and you’re open to change. A progressive tax increases the tax rate in increments: higher earners pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes. In the field of grammar, progressive refers to a type of verb tense that describes ongoing action. This word applies to lots of things that slowly increase, change, or progress.

Definitions of progressive

1. adjective

   favoring or promoting progress
   “progressive schools”

   synonyms:

   forward

   at or near or directed toward the front

   industrial

   having highly developed industries

   advanced, forward-looking, innovative, modern

   ahead of the times

   advancing, forward, forward-moving

   moving forward

   modernised, modernized

   brought up to date

   state-of-the-art

   the highest level of development at a particular time (especially the present time)

   antonyms:

   regressive

   opposing progress; returning to a former less advanced state

   backward

   directed or facing toward the back or rear

   atavistic, throwback

   characteristic of an atavist

   retrograde, retrogressive

   going from better to worse

   returning, reverting

   tending to return to an earlier state

   unmodernised, unmodernized

   not brought up to date
2. adjective

   favoring or promoting change, often by government action
   synonyms: reform-minded, reformist

   liberal

   tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition
3. adjective

   (of taxes) adjusted so that the rate increases as the amount of income increases
   synonyms:

   degressive

   (of taxes) gradually decreasing in rate on sums below a certain amount

   antonyms:

   regressive

   (of taxes) adjusted so that the rate decreases as the amount of income increases
4. noun

   a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
   synonyms: liberal, liberalist

   types:

   armchair liberal

   a person of liberal ideals who takes no action to realize them

   latitudinarian

   a person who is broad-minded and tolerant (especially in standards of religious belief and conduct)

   neoliberal

   a liberal who subscribes to neoliberalism

   pluralist

   someone who believes that distinct ethnic or cultural or religious groups can exist together in society

   Whig

   a member of the political party that urged social reform in 18th and 19th century England; was the opposition party to the Tories

   type of:

   adult, grownup

   a fully developed person from maturity onward
5. adjective

   advancing in severity
   “progressive paralysis”

   synonyms:

   active

   tending to become more severe or wider in scope
6. adjective

   gradually advancing in extent
   synonyms:

   increasing

   becoming greater or larger
7. noun

   a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
   synonyms: continuous tense, imperfect, imperfect tense, progressive tense

   types:

   present progressive, present progressive tense

   a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance

   past progressive, past progressive tense

   a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past

   future progressive, future progressive tense

   a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future

   type of:

   tense

   a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time
8. adjective

   (of a card game or a dance) involving a series of sections for which the participants successively change place or relative position
   “progressive euchre”

   “progressive tournaments”

   synonyms:

   ordered

   having a systematic arrangement; especially having elements succeeding in order according to rule