FORWARDS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forwards mean? 

• FORWARDS (adverb)
  The adverb FORWARDS has 2 senses:

1. at or to or toward the front

2. in a forward direction

  Familiarity information: FORWARDS used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORWARDS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At or to or toward the front

Synonyms:

forrad; forrard; forward; forwards; frontward; frontwards

Context example:

she practiced sewing backward as well as frontward on her new sewing machine

Domain usage:

accent; dialect; idiom (the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a forward direction

Synonyms:

ahead; forrader; forward; forwards; onward; onwards

Context example:

they went slowly forward in the mud

 Context examples 

Then at last Summerlee, with his sneer and his pipe, would move forwards, and Challenger would come rolling and grumbling after.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the deep shade, at the farther end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

That was the impression that I had, and I moved quickly forwards to get a nearer view of the person who was watching me.

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

Forwards; towards the head or anterior extremity of the body.

(Cephalad, NCI Thesaurus)

“Seventeen score paces,” said the archer, running his eye backwards and forwards.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sitting forwards, however, and screened by her bonnet, those smiles were unseen.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Pass them lightly backwards and forwards, and tell me what you feel.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was not the axe, however, but a branch which he had fastened to a withered tree which the wind was blowing backwards and forwards.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The great bonnet on Miss Mowcher's head, and the greater bonnet on the wall, began to go backwards and forwards again when she asked this question.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We were starting forward, but the Professor's warning hand, seen by us as he stood behind a yew-tree, kept us back; and then as we looked the white figure moved forwards again.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)