Going backwards — back to an earlier, worse, or less developed state, or making something go back that way. The word almost always carries disapproval: if you call a law, an idea, or a change 'regressive', you are saying it undoes progress. A government policy that takes away rights women already had is regressive; a school that returns to hitting children is regressive. It is a formal word, mostly written — in newspapers, in politics, in reports — not something friends say to each other.

It has a second life in two more technical places. In tax, a 'regressive tax' is one that takes a bigger share of the money of poor people than of rich people (a flat sales tax works this way, because everyone pays the same on a bottle of milk). Here the word is not really about going backwards in time; it means the burden falls the wrong way round, and it is still disapproving. In psychology and medicine, 'regressive behaviour' means acting like a younger version of yourself — a six-year-old who starts wetting the bed again after a new baby arrives. That use is describing, not blaming.

One thing to feel: the negative colour comes from the speaker, not from the facts. Someone who wants the old ways back will not call themselves regressive. They will say 'traditional'. Same change, different word — that choice is where the opinion lives.