degression

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈɡɹɛʃən/

From Latin degressio, from degressus + -io (“forming abstract nouns from verbs”), past perfect participle of degredi (“to descend by steps”), from de- (“down”) + gradi (“to step, walk, go”).

degression (countable and uncountable, plural degressions)

1. (obsolete) Descent, the act of descending.
   • 1486, Henry VII at York in Surtees Misc., 55:

     For your blode this citie made never degression.

2. (economics) Degressive taxation, a system of progressive decreases in a rate of taxation (as tariffs etc.) below certain benchmarks.
   • 1896, R.H.I. Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy, volume II, page 244:

     Graduated taxation therefore technically includes progression, degression, and regression.

3. (publishing) Degressive description, a system of varying descriptions of a book in accordance to its importance or available space.
   • 1908, F. Madan in Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, number 9, page 53:

     The principle of degression... It may therefore be worth while to suggest four forms for the description of a book, showing by degressive changes what details may fairly be omitted in short descriptions.

• (taxation): graduation

• degressive

See digression.

degression (plural degressions)

1. Obsolete spelling of digression.

• “degression, n..”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.
• “digression, n..”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1896.