backwards
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Alternative spellings
[edit] Etymology
backward + -s. See -s (Etymology 3)
[edit] Adjective
backwards (comparative more backwards, superlative most backwards)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- Oriented toward the back.
- The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement.
- Reversed.
- The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.
- (derogatory) Behind current trends or technology.
- Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.
- Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.
- He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.
[edit] Usage notes
- In senses 3 and 4, and generally in American English, backward is preferred.
[edit] Synonyms
- (oriented toward the back):
- (reversed): mirror image, switched, back-to-front
- (behind current trends or technology): crude, dated, obsolete, primitive
- (clumsy, inept, or inefficient): awkward, fumbling, incompetent, poor
[edit] Translations
oriented toward the back
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reversed
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behind current trends
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[edit] Adverb
backwards (comparative more backwards, superlative most backwards)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- Toward the back.
- The cabinet toppled over backwards.
- Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.—Søren Kierkegaard
- In the opposite direction of usual.
- The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards.
- In a manner such that the back precedes the front.
- The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.
[edit] Usage notes
- In written American English, backward is usually preferred
[edit] Synonyms
- (toward the back): hindwards, rearward, retrograde
- (in the opposite direction of usual): contrariwise, reversedly
- (so that the back precedes the front): back to front, in reverse
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
toward the back
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in the opposite direction of usual
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with back preceding the front
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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