regressor
|re-gress-or|
🇺🇸
/rɪˈɡrɛsər/
🇬🇧
/rɪˈɡrɛsə/
one that moves back / returns
Etymology
'regressor' originates from Latin, specifically the past-participle/root 'regressus' (from 'regredi'), where 're-' meant 'back' and 'gradi' (or 'gredi') meant 'to step' or 'to go'.
'regressor' developed from Latin 'regressus' (past participle of 'regredi'), passed into Late/Medieval Latin and was later formed in English as the agent noun 'regressor' (regress + -or).
Initially, the root terms meant 'to step or go back,' and over time the agent noun came to mean both 'one who goes back' and (in specialized modern usage) 'a predictor used in regression analysis.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in statistics, a variable (predictor or explanatory variable) used in regression analysis to predict or explain variation in a dependent variable.
In the regression model, income was included as a regressor to predict spending.
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Noun 2
a person or thing that regresses; one that returns to a prior state or condition.
Under stress some adults became regressors, showing childlike behaviors.
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Last updated: 2025/09/13 19:40