Moving backward or away; becoming smaller, fainter, or less noticeable; retreating from view.
From Latin 'recedere': 're-' back + 'cedere' to go. The present participle 'receding' has been used in English since at least the 1600s. Used literally (receding tide) and metaphorically (receding memory).
A 'receding hairline' is when hair loss follows your scalp shape—making your forehead look bigger. It's so universal that men in ancient Rome were already self-conscious about it, and Ovid wrote about treatments that definitely didn't work!
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