backward
adverb/ˈbækwəd/
/ˈbækwərd/
(especially North American English) (also backwards British and North American English)
Idioms - towards a place or position that is behind
- I lost my balance and fell backward.
- He took a step backward.
- I stumbled backward and fell.
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- in the opposite direction to the usual one
- In the movie they take a journey backward through time.
- ‘Evil’ spelled backward is ‘live’.
- I felt as though time had stopped and clocks had gone backward.
- towards a worse state
- I felt that going to live with my parents would be a step backward.
- (North American English) (British English back to front)if you put on a piece of clothing backward, you make a mistake and put the back where the front should be
Word OriginMiddle English: from earlier abackward, from aback.
Idioms
See backward in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarybackward and forward
- from one place or position to another and back again many times
- She rocked backward and forward on her chair.
- The film skips backward and forward through time.
bend/lean over backward (to do something)
- to make a great effort, especially in order to be helpful or fair
- I've bent over backward to help him.
know somebody/something backwards
- (informal, especially British English) to know somebody/something extremely well
- She must know the play backward by now.
Check pronunciation:
backward