BACKWARD • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Backward

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/bˈækwərd/ Listen

adjective

Backward adj.

1.

Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.

2.

Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. "For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves."

3.

Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. "The backward learner."

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."

adverb

Backwards, Backward adv.

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."

4.

Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. "Some reigns backward."

5.

By way of reflection; reflexively.

6.

From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. "The work went backward."

7.

In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. "We might have... beat them backward home."

noun

Backward n. The state behind or past. (Obs.) "In the dark backward and abysm of time."

verb

Backward v. t. To keep back; to hinder. (Obs.)

See images of 'Backward'

Etymology of 'Backward'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Backward" Quotes from Famous Books

... speak to Miss March, it may well be supposed that Lawrence Croft, shut up in his little room at the end of the yard, would be more so. He had sat at his window, waiting, and waiting. He had occasionally seen Mr Keswick come out on the porch, and with long strides pace backward and forward, and he knew by that sign that he had yet no message to bring him. He had seen the Midbranch carriage drive into the yard; he had seen Miss March come out on the porch, and speak to the driver, and then go in ...

— The Late Mrs. Null • Frank Richard Stockton

... stillness and by the growing light, I took my courage in both hands and stole back along the path which I had come. Some distance down it I picked up my gun, and shortly afterwards struck the brook which was my guide. So, with many a frightened backward glance, ...

— The Lost World • Arthur Conan Doyle

... thoughts are mutinous and cry For liberty, Unwilling to obey me duly As once they would. 71 O help me, lady innkeeper, For Satan even now his hand Doth on me lay, And so grievously I err In my despair That I know not if I go or stand Or backward stray. 72 Succour thou my helplessness And strengthen me with holy fare, For I perish, Of thy noble saintliness Liberal to bless, For knowing my deserts I dare No hope to cherish. 73 I acknowledge all my sin And before thee meekly thus Forgiveness crave. O Lady, ...

— Four Plays of Gil Vicente • Gil Vicente

... statue of St. Anne as near as they could go to the flowing lava, imploring a miracle to stay the advance of the consuming stream. As the fiery tide persisted in advancing the statue had to be frequently moved backward. ...

— Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror • Richard Linthicum

... their allies; backward went the Turks. The remaining intrenchments were stubbornly defended, but that storm of iron flails, those pikes and pitchforks, wielded by the zeal of enthusiasts, were not to be resisted, and in the end all that remained of the Turkish army broke into panic flight, the sultan himself being ...

— Historical Tales, Vol 5 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality, German • Charles Morris

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