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Definitions for: 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
Webster (1913) Definition: 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.]
Synonyms: 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
Antonyms: ahead, forrad, forrard, forward, forward, forwards, frontward, frontwards
See Also: regressive, retrospective, timid
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