Word.ws English Dictionary

ass-backward

ass-backward is the alternative spelling of ass-backwards.

Meaning of ass-backwards

Adjective

ass-backwards (comparative more ass-backwards, superlative most ass-backwards)

  1. (colloquial) Oriented backwards, particularly after a mishap.
    • The car spun out of control and I ended up ass-backwards in a ditch.
  2. (colloquial, idiomatic) Hopelessly misguided; contrary to what is normal, expected, or logical; having taken the utterly wrong choice.
    • No wonder it doesn't work. The whole design is ass-backwards.

See all 4 meanings of ass-backwards

Forms of ass-backward

comparativemore ass-backward
superlativemost ass-backward

Questions about ass-backward

What is ass-backward the alternative spelling of?
Ass-backward is the alternative spelling of ass-backwards.

Words near ass-backward in the dictionary

  1. ass'n
  2. ass'n.
  3. ass'ns
  4. ass's-ear abalone
  5. Ass't
  6. ass-backward
  7. ass-backwards
  8. ass-beating
  9. ass-blast
  10. ass-blasted
  11. ass-blasting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ass-backward (page history and authors); ass-backwards (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “ass-backward.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ass-backward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.