Backward
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)d/
- US IPA: /ˈbækwɚd/
Full definition of backward
Adjective
backward
- (of motion) Pertaining to the direction towards the back.They left without a backward glance.
- (of motion) Pertaining to the direction reverse of normal.The occasional backward movement of planets is evidence they revolve around the sun.
- Reluctant or unable to advance.
- 1919, William Somerset Maugham, ,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.http://www.mortgagemagazine.com.au/detail_article.cfm?articleID=364
- Of a culture considered undeveloped or unsophisticated.
- 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. http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1851044
- Pertaining to a thought or value that is considered outdated.
- Replace the morbid, bankrupting, backward idea of superpower domination: Weapons dismantled. Global warming reversed. Perhaps, in time, overpopulation, poverty, starvation, ignorance and disease all resolved. Thus, moral determination combined with 21st Century science, ecology and social initiatives will make possible a resonant fulfillment of our American Revolution http://www.counterpunch.org/bice01042003.html
- (cricket) On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.
- (cricket) Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.
- (obsolete) Unwilling; averse; reluctant.
- Alexander PopeFor wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.
- Slow to apprehend; having difficulties in learning.a backward child
- Late or behindhand.a backward season
- (obsolete) Already past or gone; bygone.
- Byronand flies unconscious o'er each backward year
Synonyms
- (in reverse direction) retrograde
- (of an undeveloped culture) third world
Antonyms
- (of an undeveloped culture) forward
- (of an outdated thought) progressive
Adverb
backward
- (of motion) In the direction towards the back; backwardsto walk or ride backward; to throw the arms backward
- Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.
- John Lockesome reigns backward
- By way of reflection; reflexively.
- From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin.
- DrydenThe work went backward.
Synonyms
Related terms
Noun
backward
- The state behind or past.
- ShakespeareIn the dark backward and abysm of time.