Progressive describes something that moves forward, advances, or happens in stages. A progressive disease is one that gets worse over time, moving through different stages. Progressive lessons build on each other, like learning addition before multiplication. A student making progressive improvements gets better step by step, not all at once.

When doctors talk about a progressive illness, they mean it develops gradually rather than appearing suddenly. When a school uses a progressive curriculum, new concepts build naturally on earlier ones.

In politics, progressive describes people who want to reform society by changing laws and institutions they see as outdated or unfair. Progressive politicians in the early 1900s pushed for things like safer workplaces and national parks. Today, people who call themselves progressive generally favor active government involvement in solving social problems. The opposite is usually called conservative, describing people who prefer to preserve traditional approaches and limit the government's role.

People who call themselves progressives often see their ideas as moving society forward toward improvement, though people disagree strongly about which changes actually make things better. What counts as progress to one person might look like a mistake to another.