froward
UK/ˈfɹəʊ.(w)əd//ˈfɹoʊ.ɚd/
froward adjective: disobedient, contrary, unmanageable; difficult to deal with; with an evil disposition.
Adjective
froward (comparative more froward, superlative most froward)
- Disobedient, contrary, unmanageable; difficult to deal with; with an evil disposition.
- The wayes of the frowarde are ſtraunge, but yͤ workes of him yͭ is cleane, are right.1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Prouerbes xxj:[8]...
- But in the meanwhile, for fear lest if he would wax never the better he would wax much the worse; and from gentle, smooth, sweet, and courteous, might wax angry, rough, froward, and sour, and thereupon be troublous and tedious to the world to make fair weather with; they give him fair words for the...1553 (posth.), Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, Book I, Chapter 14
- Synonyms:
- untoward
Preposition
froward
- Away from.
- Whan Sir Galahad herde hir sey so, he was adrad to be knowyn; and therewith he smote hys horse with his sporys and rode a grete pace froward them.1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xvii”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XIII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer...
froward meaning in Tamil and Bengali
froward in Tamil
- வேண்டுமென்றே முரண்படுகிற, அடங்காத, மீறின, வெடுவெடுப்பான
froward in Bengali
- বিপরীতমুখী, অবাধ্য, বিরুদ্ধাচরণকারী
Examples of froward in a sentence
- All this is true, if Time ſtood ſtill; which contrariwiſe moueth ſo round, that a Froward Retention of Cuſtome, is as turbulent a Thing, as an Innouation: […]1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Innouations”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 140:
- A froward child becomes an untoward youth, who turns a deaf ear to all the admonitions of an afflicted parent.1816, George Crabb, English Synonymes Explained, London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, page 133:
- ‘I owe much to Éomer,’ said Théoden. ‘Faithful heart may have froward tongue.’1954 November 11, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The King of the Golden Hall”, in The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of...
- […]most of its mansions, now sadly dingy, were built with American gold, and it was to this cold and froward city [Cuenca] […]that the last of the Aztec royal princes, Don Pedro, was brought to die.1964, Jan Morris, Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN:
Synonyms of froward
Forms of froward
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more froward |
| superlative | most froward |
| Preposition | |
| alternative form | frowards |
Origin of froward
From Middle English froward, fraward, equivalent to fro + -ward. Compare Old English fromweard, framweard (“turned away, having the back turned”).
Words formed from froward
Questions about froward
- What does froward mean?
- Froward means disobedient, contrary, unmanageable; difficult to deal with; with an evil disposition.
- What is froward in Tamil?
- Froward in Tamil is வேண்டுமென்றே முரண்படுகிற, அடங்காத, மீறின. See Froward meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use froward in a sentence?
- All this is true, if Time ſtood ſtill; which contrariwiſe moueth ſo round, that a Froward Retention of Cuſtome, is as turbulent a Thing, as an Innouation: […]
- What part of speech is froward?
- Froward can be an adjective or a preposition.
- How do you pronounce froward?
- Froward is pronounced /ˈfɹəʊ.(w)əd/ (UK).
Words near froward in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: froward (page history and authors); froward (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); froward (Bengali Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-froward.ogg.
Cite this entry: “froward.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/froward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.