posterior vs retrograde

posterior

adj
  • Following in order or in time. 

  • Next to, or facing the main stem or axis. 

  • Relating to or denoting presentation of a fetus in which the rear or caudal end is nearest the cervix and emerges first at birth. 

noun
  • The hinder parts of the body. 

  • The probability that a hypothesis is true (calculated by Bayes' theorem). 

retrograde

adj
  • Of the order of something: inverse, reverse. 

  • Reverting to an inferior or less developed state; declining, regressing. 

  • Having a passage of music played backwards. 

  • Of a celestial body: seeming to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement. 

  • Of a celestial body orbiting another: in the opposite direction to the orbited body's spin. 

  • Of amnesia: relating to the period leading up to the episode which caused it. 

  • Of ideas or a person: opposing social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; conservative. 

  • Directed or moving backwards in relation to the normal or previous direction of travel; retreating. 

  • Of an animal: appearing to regress to a less developed form during its lifetime. 

  • Of a metamorphic change: resulting from a decrease in pressure or temperature. 

adv
  • In a reverse direction; backwards. 

noun
  • The reversal of a melody so that what is played first in the original melody is played last, and what is played last in the original melody is played first. 

  • A movement backwards or opposite to the intended or normal motion. 

  • The apparent movement of a planet across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement. 

  • One who opposes social reform, favouring the maintenance of the status quo; a conservative. 

verb
  • To cause (a land feature such as a coastline or waterfall) to undergo retrogradation, that is, to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion. 

  • To revert to an inferior or less developed state; to decline, to regress. 

  • Of a celestial body, especially a planet: to show retrogradation; to seem to move across the sky in the opposite direction from its ordinary movement. 

  • To retreat or withdraw from a position. 

  • Of a land feature: to travel in the direction of the land or upstream due to erosion. 

  • To change (minerals, rocks, etc.) metamorphically through a decrease in pressure or temperature. 

How often have the words posterior and retrograde occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )