progressive

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
progressive/prəˈɡresɪv/

▶adjective

• 1 proceeding gradually or in stages: a progressive decline in popularity.

  ■ (of a disease or ailment) increasing in severity.

  ■ (of tax) increasing as a proportion of the sum taxed as that sum increases.

• 2 favouring social reform.

  ■ favouring change or innovation.

  ■ (of rock music) characterized by classical influences and lengthy compositions.

• 3 Grammar denoting an aspect or tense of a verb expressing an action in progress, e.g. am writing.

• 4 (of a card game or dance) involving a series of sections for which participants successively change place.

• 5 archaic engaging in or constituting forward motion.

▶noun a person advocating social reform.

– derivatives
progressively adverb,
progressiveness noun,
progressivism noun,
progressivist noun & adjective.