DOWNWARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does downward mean? 

• DOWNWARD (adjective)
  The adjective DOWNWARD has 2 senses:

1. extending or moving from a higher to a lower place

2. on or toward a surface regarded as a base

  Familiarity information: DOWNWARD used as an adjective is rare.

• DOWNWARD (adverb)
  The adverb DOWNWARD has 1 sense:

1. spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position

  Familiarity information: DOWNWARD used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOWNWARD (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extending or moving from a higher to a lower place

Synonyms:

down; downward

Context example:

the downward course of the stream

Similar:

descending (coming down or downward)

Sense 2

Meaning:

On or toward a surface regarded as a base

Context example:

the downward pull of gravity

Similar:

down (being or moving lower in position or less in some value)

• DOWNWARD (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position

Synonyms:

down; downward; downwardly; downwards

Context example:

prices plunged downward

Antonym:

upward (spatially or metaphorically from a lower to a higher position)

 Context examples 

But these orbits also are tilted the same way, about 30 degrees "downward" compared to the pancake-like plane within which the planets orbit the sun.

(The Super-Earth that Came Home for Dinner, NASA)

In this case, layers of clouds condense as the global circulation pattern forces warm gases downward at the pole.

(Scientists Find 'Impossible' Cloud on Titan, NASA)

The heavier salts would thus fall downward, and the lighter ice, or "snow," would float upward.

(Ganymede may harbor 'club sandwich' of oceans and ice, NASA)

Normally, the heart is positioned in the chest so that the majority of the electrical impulse travels downward (interior) and towards the left.

(Normal Axis Deviation by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus)

A fault in which the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall, in response to extensional stress.

(Normal faulting, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The next instant Martin was seated on the edge of the bed with the cub face downward across his knees.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Lying down or reclining with one side of the body in a downward direction.

(Lateral Decubitus Position, NCI Thesaurus)

The middle part of the epididymis, a crescent-like structure located in the upper and posterior surfaces of the testis, that extends downward from the head to the tail.

(Body of the Epididymis, NCI Thesaurus)

Downward movement of unconsolidated mass of mud, sediment, and rock.

(Debris slide, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The most superficial muscle extending vertically downward along the inner thigh which adducts the thigh, rotates the leg medially and flexes the knee.

(Gracilis, NCI Thesaurus)