About The Word Backward

Bay Area Crosswords

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Backward

Backward Meaning & Definition
Backward Definition And Meaning

What's The Definition Of Backward?

[adv] in or to or toward a past time; "set the clocks back an hour"; "never look back"; "lovers of the past looking fondly backward"
[adv] at or to or toward or the back or rear; "he moved back"; "tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked rearward out the window of the car"
[adv] 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"
[adj] directed or facing toward the back or rear; "a backward view"
[adj] (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature; "a backward lover"
[adj] retarded in intellectual development

Synonyms | Synonyms for Backward: back | backswept | backwards | bashful | blate | cacuminal | converse | feebleminded | inverse | negative | rearward | rearward | rearwards | receding(a) | reflexive | regardant(ip) | retarded | retracted | retral | retroflex | retroflexed | retrograde | returning(a) | reverse | reversed | reversive | self-referent | sweptback | transposed

Related Terms | Find terms related to Backward: a priori | a rebours | a reculons | about | afraid | aft | after | after time | aftermost | again | against the grain | ago | aloof | anticlockwise | apathetic | arear | around | arrested | arsy-varsy | ascending | ass over elbows | ass-backwards | astern | averse | away | axial | babbling | back | back when | back-flowing | back-to-front | backwards | balking | balky | bashful | behind | behind the times | behind time | behindhand | belated | belatedly | benighted | bigoted | blank | blind | blithering | blocked | bottom side up | bottom up | burbling | capsized | chary | checked | chiastic | chilled | chilly | coarse | cold | conservative | constrained | contrarily | contrariwise | conversely | cool | counter | counterclockwise | coy | crackbrained | cracked | crazy | cretinistic | cretinous | crude | dallying | deep into | delayed | delayed-action | delaying | demure | descending | detached | detained | die-hard | diffident | dilatory | dillydallying | dim | dim-witted | discreet | distant | dithering | down-trending | downward | drifting | driveling | drooling | dull | dumb | early | easygoing | embryonic | everted | ex post facto | expressionless | far on | feebleminded | flowing | fluent | flying | fogyish | foot-dragging | forbidding | frigid | fro | frosty | going | gone by | grudging | guarded | gyrational | gyratory | half-baked | half-witted | head over heels | heels over head | held up | hesitant | hidebound | hind | hinder | hindermost | hindhand | hindmost | hindward | hindwards | hung up | hyperbatic | icy | idiotic | ignorant | imbecile | imbecilic | impassive | impeded | impersonal | in a bind | in abeyance | in embryo | in ovo | in reverse | in the rough | inaccessible | indifferent | indisposed | inside out | into the past | introverted | invaginated | inversed | inversely | inverted | jammed | lackadaisical | laggard | lagging | late | latish | lax | lazy | lingering | loath | loitering | maundering | medieval | mentally defective | mentally deficient | mentally handicapped | mentally retarded | Micawberish | modest | mongoloid | moratory | moronic | mounting | narrow | never on time | none too soon | nonprogressive | not all there | obstructed | obtuse | offish | old-fashioned | old-fogyish | old-line | Olympian | opposed to change | outside in | over | overdue | oversimple | palindromic | passing | perfunctory | plunging | poor | posterior | posteriorly | postern | preservative | procrastinating | procrastinative | procrastinatory | progressive | quiet | reactionary | rear | rearmost | rearward | rearwards | reductionistic | reductive | reflex | reflowing | refluent | regressive | reluctant | reminiscently | remiss | remote | removed | renitent | repressed | reserved | restive | restrained | resupinate | retarded | reticent | retiring | retrad | retral | retroactive | retroactively | retrograde | retrogressive | retrospective | retrospectively | retroverted | reverse | reversed | right-wing | rising | rotary | rotational | rotatory | rough | roughcast | roughhewn | round | round about | rude | rudimental | rudimentary | running | rushing | self-effacing | set back | shrinking | shuffling | shy | sideward | simple | simpleminded | simpletonian | simplistic | since | sinking | slack | slobbering | slow | slow to | slowed down | slow-witted | sluggish | soaring | standoff | standoffish | standpat | stopped | streaming | struggling | stunted | stupid | subdued | subnormal | suppressed | tail | tailward | tailwards | tardy | thickheaded | timid | to the rear | topsy-turvy | transposed | turned around | ultraconservative | unaffable | unapproachable | unassertive | unassured | unblown | uncongenial | uncultivated | uncultured | uncut | undemonstrative | underdeveloped | undeveloped | uneager | unenlightened | unenthusiastic | unexpansive | unfashioned | unfinished | unformed | ungenial | unhewn | uninformed | unlabored | unlicked | unpolished | unprocessed | unprogressive | unpunctual | unready | unrefined | untimely | untreated | unwilling | unworked | unwrought | unzealous | upside down | upside-down | up-trending | upward | vice versa | widdershins | withdrawn | wrong side out | wrong-way | wrong-way around

See Also | regressive | retrospective | timid

Backward In Webster's Dictionary

\Back"ward\, Backwards \Back"wards\, adv. [Back, adv. + -ward.] 1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. 2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. 3. On the back, or with the back downward. Thou wilt fall backward. --Shak. 4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. Some reigns backward. --Locke. 5. By way of reflection; reflexively. --Sir J. Davies. 6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. The work went backward. --Dryden. 7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. We might have . . . beat them backward home. --Shak.
\Back"ward\, a. 1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances. 2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. --Pope. 3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. ``The backward learner.'' --South. 4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season. 5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state. 6. Already past or gone; bygone. [R.] And flies unconscious o'er each backward year. --Byron.
\Back"ward\, n. The state behind or past. [Obs.] In the dark backward and abysm of time. --Shak.
\Back"ward\, v. i. To keep back; to hinder. [Obs.]

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