backward

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Indicating position or direction.

   • The silt collects in the backward part of the tank.
2. 2

   Expressing lack of development or advancement.

   • The child is backward in his school work.
   • The fact that a child is backward in talking is no sign of defective intelligence, nor does it prove that it will be a slow pupil.
3. 3

   Reluctant or unwilling to advance or act

   Reluctant or unwilling to advance or act; shy.

   • She certainly isn’t backward in coming forward!
   • Don’t be backward in suggesting story ideas to local media but always think of the wants, needs and desires of their readers when selling-in story ideas.
4. ›+ 16 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Of a pawn, further behind than pawns of the same colour on adjacent files and unable to…

      Of a pawn, further behind than pawns of the same colour on adjacent files and unable to be moved forward safely.

   2. 5

      On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.

   3. 6

      Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.

   4. 7

      Unwilling

      Unwilling; averse; reluctant.

      • For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.
   5. 8

      Already past or gone

      Already past or gone; bygone.

      • The soul forgets her schemes of Hope and Pride, / and flies unconscious o'er each backward year.
   6. 9

      At, near or towards the rear of something.

      • The passenger turned around and walked backward, towards the tail of the aircraft.
   7. 10

      In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally…

      In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.

      • He tilted his head backward.
      • The grandfather clock toppled backward and crashed to the ground.
      • Her arm was bent backward at an odd angle.
   8. 11

      In a direction opposite to the usual direction of movement.

      • In reverse gear the wheel turns backward.
   9. 12

      Oppositely to the desired direction of progress, or from a better to a worse state.

      • This project seems to be going backward.
      • The work went backward.
   10. 13

       In a reversed orientation

       In a reversed orientation; back to front.

       • He had his cap on backward.
   11. 14

       In a reversed order or sequence.

       • A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.
   12. 15

       Toward or into the past.

       • As we begin the new millennium, it behoves us to look backward as well as forward.
   13. 16

       In the past.

   14. 17

       By way of reflection

       By way of reflection; reflexively.

       • the Mind can backward caſt Upon herself, her understanding Light
       • It was still possible — perhaps it might be inevitable — for him to accept frankly the altered conditions, and avow Baldassarre's existence; but hardly without casting an unpleasant light backward on his original reticence[…]
   15. 18

       The state behind or past.

       • In the dark backward and abysm of time.
   16. 19

       To keep back, to delay, to retard.

The neighborhood

• synonymreversedly
• synonymin reverse
• synonymdated
• synonymobsolete
• synonymprimitive
• synonymback to frontso that the back precedes the front
• antonymforward
• antonymforwards