Word.ws English Dictionary

downward

UK/ˈdaʊnwəd//ˈdaʊnwɚd/

downward adverb: toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.

Adverb

downward (not comparable)

  1. Toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.
    • His position in society moved ever downward.
    • Prices have drifted downward in recent weeks.
  2. At a lower level.
    • Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man / And downward Fish […]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. Southward.
    • If we turn to the New World, we find that among the American Indians, from the Eskimo of Alaska downward to Brazil and still farther south, homosexual customs have been very frequently observed.1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, volume 2

Adjective

downward (not comparable)

  1. Moving, sloping or oriented down.
    • He spoke with a downward glance.
    • But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar,
      Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,
      Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
  2. Located at a lower level.
    • In her chast Current oft the Goddess laves,
      And with Celestial Tears augments the Waves.
      Oft in her Glass the musing Shepherd spies
      The headlong Mountains and the downward Skies,
      The watry Landskip of the pendant Woods,
      And absent Trees that tremble in the Floods;1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 9
    • […] often revolving itself under the earth, [the river] flows into the more downward parts of Tartarus.1793, Thomas Taylor (translator), The Phædo in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato, London: Benjamin and John White, p. 235

downward meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

downward in Tamil

இறங்குமுகமான, கீழ்நோக்கான, கீழ்முகமான, கீழ்முக

downward in Urdu

نچلا

downward in Bengali

নিম্নমুখী, হ্রাসমান, মান, পরিমাণে ক্রমশ কমতির দিকে, ওপর থেকে নিচের দিকে, নিম্নদিকে

downward in Telugu

downward, down, below
దిగసన digasana
More languagesFewer languages
downward in Malayalam
താഴേക്ക് tāḻēkkŭ
downward in Sanskrit
अवस् avás

Examples of downward in a sentence

  • The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.
  • [A] ring the county wears, / That downward hath succeeded in his house / From son to son, some four or five descentsc. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
  • They call her Daffadill: / Whoſe preſence as ſhe went along, / The prety flowers did greet, / As though their heads they downward bent, / With homage to her feete.1606?, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Ninth Eglog”, in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall. […], London: […] R. B[radock] for...
  • [T]heir Sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects that were above them […]1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam]...
  • Down, downward they went, and yet further down—their descent at each step seeming to outmeasure their advance.1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, “The Halt on the Turnpike-road”, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, &...

All 40 example sentences with downward

Synonyms of downward

Antonyms

Origin of downward

From down + -ward.

Words formed from downward

Phrases with downward

Questions about downward

What does downward mean?
Downward means toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.
What is downward in Tamil?
Downward in Tamil is இறங்குமுகமான, கீழ்நோக்கான, கீழ்முகமான. See Downward meaning in Tamil.
How do you use downward in a sentence?
The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.
What part of speech is downward?
Downward can be an adverb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce downward?
Downward is pronounced /ˈdaʊnwɚd/ (US).

Words near downward in the dictionary

  1. downvoted
  2. downvoter
  3. downvoters
  4. downvotes
  5. downvoting
  6. downward
  7. downward dog
  8. downward dogs
  9. downward drift
  10. downward spiral
  11. downward spirals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: downward (page history and authors); downward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); downward (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); downward (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); దిగసన (Telugu) (page history and authors); अवस् (Sanskrit) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-downward.wav.

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