| advance, | development, | improvement, | proficiency, |
| advancement, | growth, | increase, | progression. |
| attainment, |
Progress (L. pro, forward, gradior, go) is a moving onward or forward, whether in space or in the mental or moral realm, and may be either mechanical, individual, or social. Attainment, development, and proficiency are more absolute than the other words of the group, denoting some point of advantage or of comparative perfection reached by forward or onward movement; we speak of attainments in virtue or scholarship, proficiency in music or languages, the development of new powers or organs; proficiency includes the idea of skill. Advance may denote either a forward movement or the point gained by forward movement, but always relatively with reference to the point from which the movement started; as, this is a great advance. Advance admits the possibility of retreat; progress (L. progredi, to walk forward) is steady and constant forward movement, admitting of pause, but not of retreat; advance suggests more clearly a point to be reached, while progress lays the emphasis upon the forward movement; we may speak of slow or rapid progress, but more naturally of swift advance. Progress is more frequently used of abstractions; as, the progress of ideas; progression fixes the attention chiefly upon the act of moving forward. In a thing good in itself all advance or progress is improvement; there is a growing tendency to restrict the words to this favorable sense, using increase indifferently of good or evil; one may say without limitation, "I am an advocate of progress."[290]
Antonyms:
| check, | delay, | falling off, | retrogression, | stop, |
| decline, | falling back, | relapse, | stay, | stoppage. |
Prepositions:
The progress of truth; progress in virtue; toward perfection; from a lower to a higher state.
PROHIBIT.
Synonyms:
| debar, | forbid, | inhibit, | preclude, |
| disallow, | hinder, | interdict, | prevent. |