progression
Americannoun
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progressions
plural
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the act of progressing; forward or onward movement.
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a passing successively from one member of a series to the next; succession; sequence.
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Mathematics. a succession of quantities in which there is a constant relation between each member and the one succeeding it.
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Music. the manner in which chords or melodic tones follow one another; a succession of chords or tones.
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Astrology. any of a variety of methods of comparing the natal chart to subsequent planetary positions in order to establish an optimum time to accomplish things or to establish the probable time an event occurred or will occur.
noun
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the act of progressing; advancement
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the act or an instance of moving from one thing or unit in a sequence to the next
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maths a sequence of numbers in which each term differs from the succeeding term by a constant relation See also arithmetic progression geometric progression harmonic progression
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music movement, esp of a logical kind, from one note to the next ( melodic progression ) or from one chord to the next ( harmonic progression )
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astrology one of several calculations, based on the movement of the planets, from which it is supposed that one can find the expected developments in a person's birth chart and the probable trends of circumstances for a year in his life
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of progression
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin prōgressiōn-, stem of prōgressiō “advancement, forward movement”; equivalent to progress + -ion
Explanation
A progression is a series that advances in a logical and predictable pattern. In mathematics, for example, the series 2, 4, 6, 8 is an arithmetic progression. If asked to give the next number, most people would reply 10. A movement forward, especially one that advances toward some achievement, is called a progression. When you get your learner's permit, it's a step in the natural progression from child to responsible adult — although you may see it as part of your progression toward freedom. The progression from permit to driver's license includes a few more steps, like highway driving and learning how to parallel park your dad's enormous car.
Vocabulary lists containing progression
By the Roots: Grad-, Gress-: to step
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Common Core Grades 7–8, List 5
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Common Core Grades 9–10, List 5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In May, the company announced that mezigdomide in combination with other treatments led to patients living 18 months without progression, versus eight months in those on existing treatments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The government says it will expand the use of so-called "blitz" or "short trial" courts after pilots have shown that grouping similar cases together can speed up their progression through the courts - cutting backlogs.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The 2026 study did not examine long-term cartilage deterioration, so it cannot establish whether these additional walking strategies slow osteoarthritis progression.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
“That decrease in the weight definitely slows down progression of degeneration in the spine or in the joint.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Locked in the deadly progression of moon and stars.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
After revisiting Edgard Varèse’s music, he built upon Varèse’s ideas about building and extending musical structures that are independent from standard harmonic progressions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
Clark: I was just looking at every Madonna hit from the ’80s — just studying chord progressions for fun — and it’s a classic move.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
And then he wrote this song that kind of had some similar chord progressions in it.
From Seattle Times ● May 8, 2024
"As a fundamental principle in music composition, it is necessary to combine temporal sequences from tension-building to resolution in various scales, from harmonic progressions to entire movements," Nagai writes.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2024
My progressions are insane, certainly not an advertisement of ability—more like an accounting of a ceramic shop after an earthquake.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
