Anterograde vs. Retrograde — What's the Difference?

Directed forwards in time.

Directed or moving backwards

(medicine) Effective immediately after a traumatic event such as an external shock.

Reverting to an earlier and inferior condition

(medicine) Moving or occurring in the normal forward or downstream direction of.

(of the order of something) reversed; inverse

Of amnesia; affecting time immediately following trauma

(of a metamorphic change) resulting from a decrease in temperature or pressure.

A degenerate person.

Go back in position or time

Show retrograde motion

Moving or tending backward

Opposite to the usual order; inverted or reversed

Reverting to an earlier or inferior condition

Of or relating to the orbital revolution or axial rotation of a planetary or other celestial body that moves clockwise from east to west, in the direction opposite to most celestial bodies.

Of or relating to the brief, regularly occurring, apparently backward movement of a planetary body in its orbit as viewed against the fixed stars, caused by the differing orbital velocities of Earth and the body observed.

Of or relating to orbital motion in the direction opposite that of the predominant motion in an orbital system.

(Astronomy) To have retrograde motion.

To decline to an inferior state; degenerate.

(Archaic) To move or seem to move backward.

Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating.

Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing.

(zoology) Of an animal: appearing to regress to a less developed form during its lifetime.

Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.

(music) Having a passage of music played backwards.

Of ideas or a person: opposing social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; conservative.

(archaic)

Involving a return to or a retracing of a previous course of travel.

Counterproductive to a desired outcome; contradictory, contrary.

(astronomy)

Of a celestial body orbiting another: in the opposite direction to the orbited body's spin.

Of a celestial body: seeming to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.

(geology) Of a metamorphic change: resulting from a decrease in pressure or temperature.

(medicine) Of amnesia: relating to the period leading up to the episode which caused it.

Of verse: reading the same forwards or backwards; palindromic.

In a reverse direction; backwards.

A movement backwards or opposite to the intended or normal motion.

(astrology) The apparent movement of a planet across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.

One who opposes social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; a conservative.

(archaic) One who reneges on an agreement, or switches loyalties; a rebel, a renegade.

(music) The reversal of a melody so that what is played first in the original melody is played last, and what is played last in the original melody is played first.

(transitive)

(geography) To cause (a land feature such as a coastline or waterfall) to undergo retrogradation, that is, to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion.

(geology) To change (minerals, rocks, etc.) metamorphically through a decrease in pressure or temperature.

(obsolete) To cause (someone or something) to revert to an inferior or less developed state.

(intransitive)

To revert to an inferior or less developed state; to decline, to regress.

Of a celestial body, especially a planet: to show retrogradation; to seem to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement.

(geography) Of a land feature: to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion.

(military) To retreat or withdraw from a position.

(obsolete)

Apparently moving backward, and contrary to the succession of the signs, that is, from east to west, as a planet.

Tending or moving backward; having a backward course; contrary; as, a retrograde motion; - opposed to progressive.

Declining from a better to a worse state; as, a retrograde people; retrograde ideas, morals, etc.

To go in a retrograde direction; to move, or appear to move, backward, as a planet.

Hence, to decline from a better to a worse condition, as in morals or intelligence.

Move backward in an orbit, of celestial bodies

Move in a direction contrary to the usual one;

Move back;

Go back over;

Get worse; fall back to a previous or worse condition

Moving from east to west on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in a direction opposite to that of the Earth

Of amnesia; affecting time immediately preceding trauma

Going from better to worse

Moving or directed or tending in a backward direction or contrary to a previous direction