backward
Part of speech: adj
adv
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: ball-games
board-games
chess
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
Etymology: From Middle English bakwarde, abakward, equivalent to back (adverb) + -ward. Cognate with Old Frisian bekward (“backward”).
Base: back
Affixes: -ward
Inflected forms:
form: more backward
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most backward
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: more backward
pos: adv
tags: comparative
form: most backward
pos: adv
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Indicating position or direction.
pos: adj
examples: The silt collects in the backward part of the tank.
gloss: Indicating position or direction.
pos: adj
examples: a backward tilt of the head
gloss: Indicating position or direction.
pos: adj
examples: The occasional apparent backward movement of planets is evidence that they revolve around the sun.
Engage the lock to prevent backward rotation of the wheel.
gloss: Indicating position or direction.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: This is a backward step for the country.
gloss: Indicating position or direction.
pos: adj
examples: This backward writing is hard to read.
gloss: Expressing lack of development or advancement.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: The child is backward in his school work.
The effect is to retard their progress—giving them too little opportunity and too little incentive for copying the language of adults— and a little later the child is pained and the parents' ears tingle at hearing a chance remark: “ How terribly backward she is about talking."
The fact that a child is backward in talking is no sign of defective intelligence, nor does it prove that it will be a slow pupil.
Rickety children are backward in teething, and when the teeth do appear, they decay very rapidly. The children are backward in walking and backward in talking and the soft-spot (fontanel) on the top of the head remains open months longer than it should.
gloss: Expressing lack of development or advancement.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: They were a backward people without any writing.
Most cruelly, the immediate security interests of the United States and the states surrounding Somalia are now to keep it a failed state, to prevent Islamists from consolidating even a weak state centered on Mogadishu. The leader of the victorious faction, one Aden Hashi 'Ayro, is said to be a veteran of Afghanistan; he knows well what a small sanctuary in a backward corner of the globe can mean for al Qaeda.
gloss: Expressing lack of development or advancement.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: a backward child
gloss: Expressing lack of development or advancement.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: The party’s ideas and policies are very backward.
gloss: Expressing lack of development or advancement.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: a backward season
"[…] I've a job of work to finish tonight; mourning, as must be in time for the funeral to-morrow; and grandfather has been out moss- hunting, and will not be home till late."
"Oh, how charming it will be! I'll help you if you're backward. Have you much to do?"
We have had a long run of heavy, wet and squally weather; the dry season is two months backward, and the Lepidoptera have not appeared so abundantly as they should have done.
Rickety children are backward in teething, and when the teeth do appear, they decay very rapidly.
gloss: Reluctant or unwilling to advance or act; shy.
pos: adj
tags: often
examples: She certainly isn’t backward in coming forward!
Then her eyes, always alert for the affairs of her kitchen, fell on some action of the Chinese cook which aroused her violent disapproval. She turned on him with a torrent of abuse. The Chink was not backward to defend himself, and a very lively quarrel ensued.
Don’t be backward in suggesting story ideas to local media but always think of the wants, needs and desires of their readers when selling-in story ideas.
gloss: Of a pawn, further behind than pawns of the same colour on adjacent files and unable to be moved forward safely.
pos: adj
gloss: On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.
pos: adj
gloss: Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.
pos: adj
gloss: Unwilling; averse; reluctant.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.
gloss: Already past or gone; bygone.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: The soul forgets her schemes of Hope and Pride, / and flies unconscious o'er each backward year.
gloss: At, near or towards the rear of something.
pos: adv
examples: The passenger turned around and walked backward, towards the tail of the aircraft.
gloss: In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
pos: adv
examples: He tilted his head backward.
The grandfather clock toppled backward and crashed to the ground.
Her arm was bent backward at an odd angle.
gloss: In a direction opposite to the usual direction of movement.
pos: adv
examples: In reverse gear the wheel turns backward.
gloss: Oppositely to the desired direction of progress, or from a better to a worse state.
pos: adv
tags: figuratively
examples: This project seems to be going backward.
The work went backward.
gloss: In a reversed orientation; back to front.
pos: adv
examples: He had his cap on backward.
gloss: In a reversed order or sequence.
pos: adv
examples: A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.
gloss: Toward or into the past.
pos: adv
examples: As we begin the new millennium, it behoves us to look backward as well as forward.
gloss: In the past.
pos: adv
tags: obsolete
gloss: By way of reflection; reflexively.
pos: adv
examples: the Mind can backward caſt
Upon herself, her understanding Light
It was still possible — perhaps it might be inevitable — for him to accept frankly the altered conditions, and avow Baldassarre's existence; but hardly without casting an unpleasant light backward on his original reticence[…]
gloss: The state behind or past.
pos: noun
examples: In the dark backward and abysm of time.
Synonyms: reversedly
in reverse
dated
obsolete
primitive
back to front
Antonyms: forward
forwards
Derived words: ass-backward
ass backward
backwardation
backward compatibility
backward compatible
backward-compatible
backward compliment
backward design
backward dive
backward in coming forward
backward incompatibility
backward incompatible
backward induction
backward integration
backwardism
backward linkage
backward-looking
backward-lookingness
backwardly
backward masking
backwardness
backward pass
backward pawn
backward rationalization
backward rationalize
backward roll
backward slash
bend over backward
camback
fast backward
forward-backward algorithm
other backward class
unbackward
work backward
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: назад
roman: nazad
lang: Dutch
word: achteruit
lang: Dutch
word: naar achteren
lang: Esperanto
word: malantaŭen
lang: Finnish
word: takaperoinen
lang: Finnish
word: taaksepäin suuntautuva
lang: Finnish
word: taakse
lang: French
word: en arrière
lang: German
word: zurück
lang: German
word: nach hinten
lang: German
word: rückwärts
lang: Gothic
word: 𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌺𐍃
roman: ibuks
lang: Hungarian
word: vissza
lang: Hungarian
word: hátra
lang: Icelandic
word: aftur
lang: Irish
word: siar
lang: Irish
word: ar gcúl
lang: Italian
word: indietro
lang: Jamaican Creole
word: back
lang: Māori
word: whakamuri
lang: Polish
word: w tył
lang: Portuguese
word: de volta
lang: Romanian
word: înapoi
lang: Romanian
word: spre-napoi
lang: Romanian
word: către spate
lang: Romanian
word: regresiv
lang: Romanian
word: îndărăt
lang: Russian
word: наза́д
roman: nazád
lang: Turkish
word: geri
lang: Bulgarian
word: обратно
roman: obratno
lang: Catalan
word: retrògrad
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 逆向
roman: nìxiàng
lang: Czech
word: vzad
lang: Dutch
word: achteruit
lang: Finnish
word: takaperoinen
lang: Finnish
word: peruuttava
lang: German
word: rückwärts
lang: Greek
word: ανάποδος
roman: anápodos
lang: Icelandic
word: aftur á bak
lang: Irish
word: siar
lang: Irish
word: ar gcúl
lang: Italian
word: retromarcia
lang: Jamaican Creole
word: backway
lang: Polish
word: w tył
lang: Polish
word: do tyłu
lang: Portuguese
word: atrás
lang: Romanian
word: înapoi
lang: Romanian
word: îndărăt
lang: Russian
word: обра́тно
roman: obrátno
lang: Spanish
word: retrógrado
lang: Swedish
word: bakåt
lang: Swedish
word: baklänges
lang: Bashkir
word: артҡа
roman: artqa
lang: Catalan
word: enrere
lang: Cherokee
word: ᎠᏏᏂ
roman: asini
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 向後 /向后
roman: xiànghòu
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 往後 /往后
roman: wǎnghòu
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 朝後 /朝后
roman: cháohòu
lang: Czech
word: zpátky
lang: Czech
word: dozadu
lang: Farefare
word: abilimpoore
lang: Finnish
word: taaksepäin
lang: Finnish
word: takaperin
lang: French
word: à reculons
lang: Galician
word: para atrás
lang: Galician
word: de costas
lang: Greek
word: πίσω
roman: píso
lang: Hungarian
word: hátrafelé
lang: Ingrian
word: takaperin
lang: Japanese
word: 後ろへ
roman: ushiro e
lang: Japanese
word: 後方へ
roman: kōhō e
lang: Latin
word: rūrsum
lang: Latin
word: retrōrsum
lang: Malayalam
word: പുറകോട്ട്
roman: puṟakōṭṭŭ
lang: Mongolian
word: ᠬᠣᠶᠢᠰᠢ
roman: qoyisi
lang: Mongolian
word: ᠬᠣᠶᠢᠰᠢ ᠪᠠᠨ
roman: qoyisi-ban
lang: Mongolian
word: ᠠᠷᠤᠨᠰᠢ
roman: arunsi
lang: Mongolian
word: ᠠᠷᠤᠨᠰᠢ ᠪᠠᠨ
roman: arunsi-ban
lang: Mongolian
word: хойш
roman: xojš
lang: Mongolian
word: хойшоо
roman: xojšoo
lang: Mongolian
word: аранш
roman: aranš
lang: Mongolian
word: араншаа
roman: aranšaa
lang: Occitan
word: en rèire
lang: Old Church Slavonic
word: възнакъ
roman: vŭznakŭ
lang: Polish
word: z powrotem
lang: Portuguese
word: para trás
lang: Spanish
word: atrás
lang: Spanish
word: hacia atrás
lang: Tagalog
word: patalikod
lang: Tuvan
word: дедир
roman: dedir
lang: Ukrainian
word: наза́д
roman: nazád
lang: Vietnamese
word: ngược lại