Word.ws English Dictionary

backward

UK/ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)d/US/ˈbækwɚd/

backward adjective: situated toward or at the rear of something.

Adjective

backward (comparative more backward, superlative most backward)

  1. Situated toward or at the rear of something.
    • The silt collects in the backward part of the tank.
  2. Acting or moving in the direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing.
    • a backward tilt of the head
  3. Acting or moving in the direction opposite to the usual direction of movement.
    • The occasional apparent backward movement of planets is evidence that they revolve around the sun.
    • Engage the lock to prevent backward rotation of the wheel.
  4. (figuratively) Acting or moving oppositely to the desired direction of progress.
    • This is a backward step for the country.
  5. Reversed in order or sequence.
    • This backward writing is hard to read.
  6. (figuratively) Retarded in development; not as advanced as would be expected.
    • The child is backward in his school work.
    • The effect is to retard their progress—giving them too little opportunity and too little incentive for copying the language of adults— and a little later the child is pained and the parents' ears tingle at hearing a chance remark: “ How terribly backward she is about talking."1882, Charles Edward Page, How to feed the baby to make it healthy and happy, page 133
  7. (figuratively) Of a culture, country, practice etc., undeveloped or unsophisticated.
    • They were a backward people without any writing.
    • 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...2006, Tom Donnelly, “Back to Mogadishu?”, in Armed Forces Journal, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2009
    Synonyms:
    crude
  8. (figuratively) Slow to apprehend; having difficulties in learning.
    • a backward child
  9. (figuratively) Lacking progressive or enlightened thought; outdated.
    • The party’s ideas and policies are very backward.
    Antonyms:
    progressive
  10. (figuratively) Late or behindhand.
    • a backward season
    • "[…] I've a job of work to finish tonight; mourning, as must be in time for the funeral to-morrow; and grandfather has been out moss- hunting, and will not be home till late."
      "Oh, how charming it will be! I'll help you if you're backward. Have you much to do?"1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton
  11. (often) Reluctant or unwilling to advance or act; shy.
    • She certainly isn’t backward in coming forward!
    • 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.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 51”, in The Moon and Sixpence
  12. Of a pawn, further behind than pawns of the same colour on adjacent files and unable to be moved forward safely.
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.
  2. Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.
  3. (obsolete) Unwilling; averse; reluctant.
    • For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.1713, Alexander Pope, Windsor Forest, line 50
  4. (obsolete) Already past or gone; bygone.
    • The soul forgets her schemes of Hope and Pride, / and flies unconscious o'er each backward year.1812–1818, George Gordon Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto 2, verse 24

Adverb

backward (comparative more backward, superlative most backward)

  1. At, near or towards the rear of something.
    • The passenger turned around and walked backward, towards the tail of the aircraft.
  2. In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.
    • He tilted his head backward.
    • The grandfather clock toppled backward and crashed to the ground.
  3. In a direction opposite to the usual direction of movement.
    • In reverse gear the wheel turns backward.
  4. (figuratively) Oppositely to the desired direction of progress, or from a better to a worse state.
    • This project seems to be going backward.
    • The work went backward.1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria
  5. In a reversed orientation; back to front.
    • He had his cap on backward.
  6. In a reversed order or sequence.
    • A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.
  7. Toward or into the past.
    • As we begin the new millennium, it behoves us to look backward as well as forward.
  8. (obsolete) In the past.
  9. By way of reflection; reflexively.
    • the Mind can backward caſt
      Upon herself, her understanding Light1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum
    • It was still possible — perhaps it might be inevitable — for him to accept frankly the altered conditions, and avow Baldassarre's existence; but hardly without casting an unpleasant light backward on his original reticence[…]1862, George Eliot, Romola

Noun

backward

  1. The state behind or past.
    • In the dark backward and abysm of time.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

Verb

backward (third-person singular simple present backwards, present participle backwarding, simple past and past participle backwarded)

  1. (dated, transitive) To keep back, to delay, to retard.

backward meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

backward in Tamil

பின்னோக்கி, பின் தங்கிய, பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட

backward in Marathi

undeveloped
मागासलेला māgāslelā, मागासलेली māgāslelī, मागासलेले māgāslele

backward in Urdu

پس ماندہ, شرمیلا

backward in Bengali

পেছনমুখী, বিকাশ, অগ্রগতিতে পিছিয়ে থাকা, পেছনের দিকে, নিজের পেছনের অভিমুখে, স্বাভাবিক
More languagesFewer languages
backward in Malayalam
പിന്നോക്ക pinnōkka, പുറകോട്ട് puṟakōṭṭŭ
backward in Kannada
ಹಿಂದುಳಿದ
backward in Gujarati
પછાત
backward in Tagalog
patalikod
backward in Arabic
مُتَخَلِّف mutaḵallif
backward in Vietnamese
ngược lại

Examples of backward in a sentence

  • Her arm was bent backward at an odd angle.
  • The fact that a child is backward in talking is no sign of defective intelligence, nor does it prove that it will be a slow pupil.1910, Leonard Keene Hirshberg, What You Ought to Know about Your Baby, page 19:
  • Rickety children are backward in teething, and when the teeth do appear, they decay very rapidly.1925, Louis Fischer, The Health-care of the Baby: A Handbook for Mothers and Nurses, page 170:
  • 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.2006, Tom Donnelly, “Back to Mogadishu?”, in Armed Forces Journal, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2009:
  • We have had a long run of heavy, wet and squally weather; the dry season is two months backward, and the Lepidoptera have not appeared so abundantly as they should have done.1855, The zoologist: a popular miscellany of natural history, Volume 14:

All 40 example sentences with backward

Synonyms of backward

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of backward

Forms of backward

Adjective
comparativemore backward
superlativemost backward
Adverb
comparativemore backward
superlativemost backward
Verb
third-person singular presentbackwards
present participlebackwarding
past participlebackwarded
pastbackwarded

Origin of backward

From Middle English bakwarde, abakward, equivalent to back (adverb) + -ward. Cognate with Old Frisian bekward (“backward”).

Words formed from backward

Phrases with backward

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about backward

What does backward mean?
Backward means situated toward or at the rear of something.
What is backward in Tamil?
Backward in Tamil is பின்னோக்கி, பின் தங்கிய, பிற்படுத்தப்பட்ட. See Backward meaning in Tamil.
How do you use backward in a sentence?
Her arm was bent backward at an odd angle.
What part of speech is backward?
Backward can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce backward?
Backward is pronounced /ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)d/ (UK).

Words near backward in the dictionary

  1. backvelder
  2. backvelders
  3. backvelds
  4. backwall
  5. backwalls
  6. backward
  7. backward and forward
  8. backward compatibilities
  9. backward compatibility
  10. backward compatible
  11. backward compliment

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backward (page history and authors); backward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backward (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backward (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backward (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backward (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-backward.ogg.

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