顺行是行星这种天体与系统内其他相似的天体共同一致运动的方向；逆行是在相反方向上的运行。在天体的状况下，这些运动都是真实的，由固有的自转或轨道来定义；或是视觉上的，好比从地球上来观看天空。

在英文中「direct」和「prograde」是同义词，前者是在天文学上传统的名词，后者在1963年才在一篇与天文相关的专业文章（J. Geophys. Res. 68, 4979）上首度出现。

Retrograde motion is motion in the direction opposite to the movement of something else and the contrary of direct or prograde motion. This motion can be the orbit of one body about another body or about some other point, or the rotation of a single body about its axis, or other phenomena such as precession or nutation of the axis. In reference to celestial systems, retrograde motion usually means motion which is contrary to the rotation of the primary, that is, the object which forms the system's hub.