Meanings
comparative more unprogressive · superlative most unprogressive
- Not progressive; not contributing to progress.
1 more example
Introducing a comprehensive re-design scheme for the Canadian National Railways earlier this year, the Director of Public Relations, Mr. C. A. Harris, said a 1959 survey by his department had revealed that the railways were felt by the public to be unprogressive and slow to improve performance and service; the existing modernisation scheme had, he said, been lying like an iceberg, mostly beneath the surface.
1961 June, B. A. Haresnape, “Design on the railway: Part Four”, in Trains Illustrated, page 354
plural unprogressives
- A person whose views are not progressive.
[…] the unprogressives, the reactionaries, the unenlightened, who refuse to bow down to the god, Art.
1909, Edwin Anderson Alderman, Joel Chandler Harris, Charles W. Kent, Library of Southern Literature: Biography, page 671
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveold-fashioned and out of date
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishprogressive
- Englishunprogressive
From un- + progressive.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with unprogressive
Cite this entry
unprogressive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprogressive
“unprogressive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprogressive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unprogressive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprogressive.
Source: unprogressive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.