forward
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɔːwəd/
ipa: /ˈfɔɹwəɹd/
ipa: /ˈfoʊwəɹd/
ipa: /ˈfɔɹəɹd/
ipa: /ˈfoːwəd/
ipa: /foːd/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)wə(ɹ)d
rhymes: -oʊ(ɹ)wə(ɹ)d
rhymes: -ɔɹə(ɹ)d
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d
homophone: foreword
Forms: form: foreward
form: forrard
form: forrad
form: forred
Etymology: From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard (“forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former”), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore + -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts (“forward”), German vorwärts (“forward”).
Senses: examples: text: She was sitting well forward in the railway carriage.
text: The bus driver told everyone standing up to move forward.
text: A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
glosses: At, near or towards the front of something.
examples: text: Most of the men are sleeping forward, for it is near midnight, but a stout swarthy Arab, Mahomed by name, stands at the tiller, lazily steering by the stars.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: At, near or towards the front of something.
At, near, or towards the bow of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel).
examples: text: I leant forward to get a better look.
text: The grandfather clock toppled forward and crashed to the ground.
glosses: In the direction in which someone or something is facing.
examples: text: After spending an hour stuck in the mud, we could once again move forward.
text: Wind the film forward a few frames.
text: Don't forget to put the clocks forward by one hour tonight!
text: We need to move this project forward.
glosses: In the desired or usual direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively; onwards.
examples: text: Don't wear your baseball cap backward; turn it forward.
glosses: So that front and back are in the usual orientation.
examples: text: A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.
glosses: In the usual order or sequence.
examples: text: From this day forward, there will be no more brussels sprouts at the cafeteria.
text: The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: Into the future.
examples: text: The meeting has been moved forward an hour. It was at 3 o'clock; now it's at 2 o'clock.
glosses: To an earlier point in time. See also bring forward.
Synonyms: sense: towards the front
word: forwards
sense: in the usual direction of progress
word: ahead
sense: in the usual direction of progress
word: forth
sense: in the usual direction of progress
word: on
sense: in the usual direction of progress
word: onward
sense: in the usual direction of progress
word: onwards
sense: into the future
word: forth
sense: into the future
word: forwards
sense: into the future
word: hereon
sense: into the future
word: on
sense: into the future
word: onward
sense: into the future
word: onwards
Hyponyms: straightforward
Derived terms: spring forward, fall back