BACKWARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does backward mean? 

• BACKWARD (adjective)
  The adjective BACKWARD has 4 senses:

1. directed or facing toward the back or rear

2. (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature

3. retarded in intellectual development

4. having made less than normal progress

  Familiarity information: BACKWARD used as an adjective is uncommon.

• BACKWARD (adverb)
  The adverb BACKWARD has 3 senses:

1. at or to or toward the back or rear

2. in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal

3. in or to or toward a past time

  Familiarity information: BACKWARD used as an adverb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BACKWARD (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Directed or facing toward the back or rear

Context example:

a backward view

Similar:

cacuminal; retroflex (pronounced with the tip of the tongue turned back toward the hard palate)

returning; reversive (tending to be turned back)

retroflex; retroflexed (bent or curved backward)

retral; retrograde (moving or directed or tending in a backward direction or contrary to a previous direction)

retracted (drawn back and in)

regardant (looking backward)

reflexive; self-referent (referring back to itself)

receding ((of a hairline e.g.) moving slowly back)

rearward; reverse (directed or moving toward the rear)

inverse; reverse (reversed (turned backward) in order or nature or effect)

converse; reversed; transposed (turned about in order or relation)

backswept; sweptback (used of hair)

Also:

regressive (opposing progress; returning to a former less advanced state)

retrospective (concerned with or related to the past)

Antonym:

forward (at or near or directed toward the front)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature

Context example:

a backward lover

Similar:

bashful; blate (disposed to avoid notice)

Also:

timid (showing fear and lack of confidence)

Antonym:

forward (used of temperament or behavior; lacking restraint or modesty)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Retarded in intellectual development

Synonyms:

backward; feebleminded; half-witted; slow-witted

Similar:

retarded (relatively slow in mental or emotional or physical development)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Derivation:

backwardness (lack of normal development of intellectual capacities)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Having made less than normal progress

Context example:

an economically backward country

Similar:

adynamic; undynamic (characterized by an absence of force or forcefulness)

• BACKWARD (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At or to or toward the back or rear

Synonyms:

back; backward; backwards; rearward; rearwards

Context example:

she looked rearward out the window of the car

Antonym:

forward (at or to or toward the front)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal

Synonyms:

backward; backwards

Context example:

the child put her jersey on backward

Sense 3

Meaning:

In or to or toward a past time

Synonyms:

back; backward

Context example:

lovers of the past looking fondly backward

Antonym:

forward (toward the future; forward in time)

 Context examples 

He began by drawing a most formidable-looking bludgeon loaded with lead from his pocket, and switching it backward and forward several times, as if to test its weight and strength.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the footsteps continued backward and forward, backward and forward, within a few yards of us.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"She has been so singularly backward where men are concerned that I have been worried greatly."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This astronomical answer has a built-in clock (computing planetary orbits backward in time), providing an accurate chronology for the geologic record.

(Deep-sea sediments lead to new understanding of solar system, National Science Foundation)

Your ruling planet Mercury went retrograde last month on October 31 and will continue in this backward path until November 20.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

When the frog was got in, it hopped at once half the length of the boat, and then over my head, backward and forward, daubing my face and clothes with its odious slime.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might never be really out of my reach.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The impact of her body sent him stumbling backward several steps.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was only a shove, a flirt of the wrist, yet so tremendous was his strength that I was hurled backward as from a catapult.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Indeed, live-cell microscopy revealed nuclei in lobopodial cells pulling forward and falling backward like a piston.

(New Mechanism of Cell Movement Revealed, NIH)