1. backward(a = adj.all) - directed or facing toward the back or rear; "a backward view"
Antonym: forward
2. backward(a = adj.all) - (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature; "a backward lover"
Antonym: forward
3. backward(s = adj.all) feebleminded, half-witted, slow-witted - retarded in intellectual development;
Derived form noun backwardness1
4. backward(s = adj.all) - having made less than normal progress; "an economically backward country"
1. backward(r = adv.all) back, backwards, rearward, rearwards - at or to or toward the back or rear; "he moved back"; "tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked rearward out the window of the car"
Antonym: forward
2. backward(r = adv.all) backwards - in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal; "it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward"
3. backward(r = adv.all) back - in or to or toward a past time; "set the clocks back an hour"; "never look back"; "lovers of the past looking fondly backward"
Antonym: forward
1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. [1913 Webster]
2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. [1913 Webster]
3. On the back, or with the back downward. [1913 Webster]
"Thou wilt fall backward." [1913 Webster]
4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. [1913 Webster]
"Some reigns backward." [1913 Webster]
5. By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies. [1913 Webster]
6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. [1913 Webster]
"The work went backward." [1913 Webster]
7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. [1913 Webster]
"We might have . . . beat them backward home." [1913 Webster]
1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances. [1913 Webster]
2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. [1913 Webster]
"For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves." [1913 Webster]
3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. South. [1913 Webster]
4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season. [1913 Webster]
5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state. [1913 Webster]
6. Already past or gone; bygone. [1913 Webster]
"And flies unconscious o'er each backward year." [1913 Webster]
The state behind or past. [1913 Webster]
"In the dark backward and abysm of time." [1913 Webster]
To keep back; to hinder. [1913 Webster]
backward, adv. & adj.
--adv. = BACKWARDS.
Usage:
Backwards is now more common, esp. in literal senses.
--adj.
1 directed to the rear or starting-point (a backward look).
2 reversed.
3 mentally retarded or slow.
4 reluctant, shy, unassertive.
Derivative:
backwardness n.
Etymology:
earlier abackward, assoc. with BACK
N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.
N lateness, tardiness, delay, delation, cunctation, procrastination, deferring, deferral, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite, pause, reprieve, stay of execution, protraction, prolongation, Fabian policy, medecine expectante, chancery suit, federal case, leeway, high time, moratorium, holdover, late, tardy, slow, behindhand, serotine, belated, postliminious, posthumous, backward, unpunctual, untimely, delayed, postponed, dilatory, delayed, in abeyance, late, lateward, backward, late in the day, at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last, ultimately, after time, behind time, after the deadline, too late, too late for, slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure, ex post facto, sine die, nonum prematur in annum, against the sunbeams serotine and lucent, ie meglio tardi che mai, deliberando saepe perit occasio, lateness, tardiness, delay, delation, cunctation, procrastination, deferring, deferral, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite, pause, reprieve, stay of execution, protraction, prolongation, Fabian policy, medecine expectante, chancery suit, federal case, leeway, high time, moratorium, holdover, late, tardy, slow, behindhand, serotine, belated, postliminious, posthumous, backward, unpunctual, untimely, delayed, postponed, dilatory, delayed, in abeyance, late, lateward, backward, late in the day, at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last, ultimately, after time, behind time, after the deadline, too late, too late for, slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure, ex post facto, sine die, nonum prematur in annum, against the sunbeams serotine and lucent, ie meglio tardi che mai, deliberando saepe perit occasio.