regression

Noun

• returning to a former state

• the relation between selected values of x and observed values of y (from which the most probable value of y can be predicted for any value of x)

• (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which you flee from reality by assuming a more infantile state

• an abnormal state in which development has stopped prematurely

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  regress , reversion , retrogression , retroversion , simple regression , regression toward the mean , statistical regression , arrested development , fixation , infantile fixation