Outward

Pronunciation

From Middle English, from Old English Å«tweard, equivalent to out + -ward

Full definition of outward

Adjective

1. outer; located towards the outside
2. visible, noticeableBy all outward indications, he's a normal happy child, but if you talk to him, you will soon realize he has some psychological problems.
3. Tending to the exterior or outside.
• DrydenThe fire will force its outward way.
4. (obsolete) Foreign; not civil or intestine.an outward war

Adverb

1. Towards the outside; away from the centre. from 10th c.We are outward bound.
• ShakespeareThe wrong side may be turned outward.
2. (obsolete) Outwardly, in outer appearances; publicly. 14th-17th c.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVIII:So the Quene lete make a pryvy dynere in London unto the knyghtes of the Rownde Table, and all was for to shew outwarde that she had as grete joy in all other knyghtes of the Rounde Table as she had in Sir Launcelot.

Synonyms

• outwards

Derived terms

• outwardness

From - + ward.

Verb

1. (obsolete, rare) To ward off; to keep out.
• 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.1:Ne any armour could his dint out-ward;
  But wheresoever it did light, it throughly shard.

Anagrams

• draw out
• outdraw