backward
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology
From Old English abakward (from on bæc + -weard). back + -ward
[edit] Adjective
backward (comparative more backward, superlative most backward)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- (of motion) Pertaining to the direction towards the back.
- (of motion) Pertaining to the direction reverse of normal.
- The occasional backward movement of planets is evidence they revolve around the sun.
- Reluctant or unable to advance.
- Don't be backward in suggesting story ideas to local media but always think of the wants, needs and desires of their readers when selling-in story ideas.[1]
- Of a culture considered undeveloped or unsophisticated.
- 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 veteran of Afghanistan; he knows well what a small sanctuary in a backward corner of the globe can mean for al Qaeda. [2]
- Pertaining to a thought or value that is considered outdated.
- Replace the morbid, bankrupting, backward idea of superpower domination: Weapons dismantled. Global warming reversed. Perhaps, in time, overpopulation, poverty, starvation, ignorance and disease all resolved. Thus, moral determination combined with 21st Century science, ecology and social initiatives will make possible a resonant fulfillment of our American Revolution [3]
- (cricket) On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.
- (cricket) Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.
[edit] Synonyms
- (in reverse direction): retrograde
- (of an undeveloped culture): third world
[edit] Antonyms
- (of an undeveloped culture): forward
- (of an outdated thought): progressive
[edit] Translations
of the direction towards the back
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of the direction reverse of normal
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reluctant to advance
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undeveloped
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of an outdated value
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[edit] Adverb
backward (comparative more backward, superlative most backward)
|
Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- (of motion) In the direction towards the back; backwards
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Translations
in the direction towards the back
