# autoregressive

CEFR C1 · Adjective

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/autoregressive
Updated: 2026-09-28

## Definition

describing a model that creates text or data one piece at a time, where each new piece depends on all previous ones.

For teachers: describing a statistical process or generative neural network that predicts future values as a linear or non-linear function of its own preceding outputs.

## Examples

- An autoregressive model writes an essay by predicting one word after another.
- Generative pre-trained transformers use an autoregressive loss to learn language structure from left to right.
- The sequential dependency inherent in autoregressive generation presents a computational bottleneck that prevents full GPU parallelization during inference.

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