progress

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Movement, as toward a goal; advance.
2. n. Development or growth: students who show progress.
3. n. Steady improvement, as of a society or civilization: a believer in human progress. See Synonyms at development.
4. n. A ceremonial journey made by a sovereign through his or her realm.
5. v. To advance; proceed: Work on the new building progressed at a rapid rate.
6. v. To advance toward a higher or better stage; improve steadily: as medical technology progresses.
7. v. To increase in scope or severity, as a disease taking an unfavorable course.
8. idiom. in progress Going on; under way: a work in progress.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A going onward; a moving or proceeding forward; advance: as, to make slow or rapid progress on a journey; to hinder one's progress.
2. n. A passage from place to place; a journey; wayfaring.
3. n. Specifically A journey or circuit of state: as, a royal progress.
4. n. Advancement of any kind; growth; development; improvement: as, the progress of a negotiation; the progress of a plant; the progress of a patient toward recovery; the progress of a scholar in his studies; the progress of the arts and sciences.
5. To move forward or onward in space; proceed; pass; go.
6. To continue onward in course; proceed or advance.
7. To move toward something better; advance on the line of development or improvement.
8. Specifically, in music, of a voice-part, to advance from one tone to another, or, of the harmony in general, from one chord to another. = Syn. 1-3. To go or get on, ahead, forward, or along; make haste.
9. To make headway.
10. To pass over or through; make the tour or circuit of.
11. To cause to advance or pass; push forward.
12. n. plural In astrology, the positions the moon forms in her advance, by allowing one synodical lunation for one year of the native's life.

Wiktionary

1. v. intransitive to move, go, or proceed forward; to advance.
2. v. intransitive to improve; to become better or more complete.
3. v. transitive To move (something) forward; to advance, to expedite.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A moving or going forward; a proceeding onward; an advance.
2. n. In actual space, as the progress of a ship, carriage, etc.
3. n. In the growth of an animal or plant; increase.
4. n. In business of any kind
5. n. In knowledge; in proficiency.
6. n. Toward ideal completeness or perfection in respect of quality or condition; -- applied to individuals, communities, or the race.
7. n. A journey of state; a circuit; especially, one made by a sovereign through parts of his own dominions.
8. v. To make progress; to move forward in space; to continue onward in course; to proceed; to advance; to go on.
9. v. To make improvement; to advance.
10. v. obsolete To make progress in; to pass through.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. move forward, also in the metaphorical sense
2. n. the act of moving forward (as toward a goal)
3. n. a movement forward
4. n. gradual improvement or growth or development
5. v. develop in a positive way
6. v. form or accumulate steadily