Meaning of progressive in English

modernThe building was made using modern construction techniques.
up to dateThe hospital has some of the most up-to-date equipment in the country.
latestShe always wears the latest fashions.
cutting-edgeComputers have brought cutting-edge technology into the classroom.
high-techDivers with high-tech equipment discovered the wreck of the ship.

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Modern & fashionable

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progressive adjective (TAX)

finance & economics

A progressive tax system is one in which the rate of tax is higher on larger amounts of money.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Taxation

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progressive adjective (GRAMMAR)

language

The progressive form of a verb is used to show that the action is continuing. It is formed with the verb "be" followed by the present participle (= -ing form of the verb):

"He's working hard at the moment" is an example of the present progressive form of the verb "work".

"I was eating when the phone rang" is an example of the past progressive.

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Linguistics: verb forms, tenses & types of verbs

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progressive adjective (GLASSES)

(UK varifocal)

used to describe a lens (= a curved piece of glass) that allows you to see things clearly at different distances:

Progressive lenses provide vision correction for both near and distance prescriptions, but in a single lens.

They sell many types of glasses: rimless, progressive, tinted and so on.

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Eyesight, glasses & lenses

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progressive

noun [ C ]

/prəˈɡres.ɪv/ us

/prəˈɡres.ɪv/

progressive noun [C] (POLITICS)

politics

a person who supports new ideas and social change, especially one who belongs to a political party

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reactionary

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Politics - general words

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progressive noun [C] (GLASSES)

progressives [ plural ] US (UK varifocals)

glasses with special lenses that let you see things clearly at different distances:

Are those glasses progressives?

(Definition of progressive from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

progressive | American Dictionary

progressive

adjective

/prəˈɡres·ɪv/

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A progressive disease is one that gets increasingly worse.

Progressive ideas or systems encourage change in society or in the way things are done:

She worked for women’s rights, labor reforms, and other progressive causes.

progressively

adverb us

/prəˈɡres·ɪv·li/

My eyesight has gotten progressively worse over the years.

(Definition of progressive from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

progressive | Business English

progressive

adjective

/prəʊˈɡresɪv/ us

/prəˈɡresɪv/

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developing or happening gradually:

There's been a progressive decline in the standard of living over the last decade.

Lomax promised 'a progressive return to our underlying growth rate' of 20% a year.

MANAGEMENT, POLITICS

used to describe ideas or systems that are new and modern, and that encourage change and development:

We're looking for progressive ideas to move the company forward.

progressive management practices

The company leadership has politically progressive views.

ECONOMICS, TAX

used to describe an economic system in which more advantages, especially tax advantages, are given to people with less money than to people with more money:

The party says it will introduce a more progressive Budget.

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regressive

(Definition of progressive from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of progressive

progressive

The extraction of always-type and interpretative progressives required close (manual) readings of the corpus data.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Clauses describing states (which include progressives, perfects, conditionals and generics) introduce stickers on existing nodes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, working memory was a significant predictor of grammaticality judgment performance on four different structures (word order, progressives, regular past and third person agreement).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Legal realists, as well as the broader category of legal progressives, involved themselves in the study of law and its applications.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In addition, subjective progressives may occur with the 'accusing second person' (1994a: 472).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Instead, most of the progressives in the cor pus of the present study occur with activity verbs, typically in a subclause.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Their co-operation, whether willing or otherwise, was essential for the progressives on both economic and ideological grounds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Three basic environments where the adult grammar requires overt inflectional material were coded : present tense copular constructions ; present progressives ; and sentences requiring 3sg present agreement.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Meanwhile, a growing proportion of progressives are found to occur in main clauses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Conservatives regulate personal indiscretions, whereas progressives focus on transgressions of state.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The work also serves to remind us of the diversity of opinion and philosophy among those we call ' ' progressives.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Colloquialization also seems to play a much less important role in the development of the construction under investigation than in other types of progressives.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Not all combinations of be followed by an -ing form are progressives, though.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, present-tense uses should be in the majority in subjective progressives.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Present progressives were defined as clauses with -ing on the verb which seemed according to context to have present reference.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of progressive

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of progressive?

Translations of progressive

in Chinese (Traditional)

逐漸的, 漸進的, 先進的…

in Chinese (Simplified)

逐渐的, 渐进的, 先进的…

in Spanish

progresivo, progresista, continuo…

in Portuguese

progressivo, progressista, contínuo…

in more languages

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वाढता, हळूहळू विकसित होत आहे किंवा घडत आहे., प्रगतिशील…

aydın, ileriyi gören, modern görüşlü…

progressiste, progressif/-ive, progressif…

進歩的（しんぽてき）な, 漸進的（ぜんしんてき）な, 進行形（しんこうけい）の…

progressief, vooruitstrevend, progressieve vorm…

படிப்படியாக வளரும் அல்லது நிகழ்கிறது, முற்போக்கான கருத்துக்கள் அல்லது அமைப்புகள் புதியவை மற்றும் நவீனமானவை, சமூகத்தில் அல்லது விஷயங்கள் செய்யப்படும் விதத்தில் மாற்றத்தை ஊக்குவிக்கின்றன…

क्रमिक, धीरे-धीरे निरंतर होने वाला, प्रगतिशील…

ઉત્તરોત્તર, ધીમે ધીમે વધતું, પ્રપ્રાગતિક…

fremadskridende, progressiv, udvidet tid…

[gradvis] tilltagande, progressiv, framstegsvänlig…

progresif…

fortschreitend, fortschrittlich, das Imperfekt…