downward

English

Etymology

down +‎ -ward

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnwɚd/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnwəd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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.

   The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:

     [A] ring the county wears, / That downward hath succeeded in his house / From son to son, some four or five descents

   • 1606?, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Ninth Eglog”, in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall. […], London: […] R. B[radock] for N[icholas] L[ing] and I[ohn] Flasket, →OCLC; republished in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall (Publications of the Spenser Society, New Series; 4), [Manchester: […] Charles E. Simms] for the Spenser Society, 1891, →OCLC, page 94:

     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.

   • 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 109:

     Novv you muſt bee ſure […] to carry the point or top of the Rod dovvnevvard; by vvhich meanes the ſhadovv of your ſelfe, and Rod too vvill be the leaſt offenſive to the Fiſh, for the ſight of any ſhadovv amazes the fiſh, and ſpoiles your ſport, of vvhich you muſt take a great care.

   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 71:

     [T]heir Sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects that were above them […]

   • 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, “The Halt on the Turnpike-road”, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, book I (The Three Women), page 73:

     Down, downward they went, and yet further down—their descent at each step seeming to outmeasure their advance.

2. At a lower level.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 462–463:

     Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man / And downward Fish […]

3. Southward.
   • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex‎^[1], volume 2:

     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.

Synonyms

• down, downwards

Antonyms

• up, upwards

Translations

toward a lower level

• Bashkir: аҫҡа (aśqa), түбән (tübən)
• Bulgarian: надолу (nadolu)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Faroese: oman, omaneftir, niður, niðureftir
• Finnish: alaspäin (fi)
• German: abwärts (de), nach unten, runter (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌸 (dalaþ)
• Hebrew: מַטָּה (he) (matá), לְמַטָּה (l'matá), כְּלַפֵּימַטָּה־ (klapei matá)
• Malayalam: താഴേക്ക് (tāḻēkkŭ)
• Maori: ki raro, whakararo
• Romanian: în jos, în coborâre, în vale
• Russian: вниз (ru) (vniz)
• Spanish: hacia abajo
• Swedish: nedåt (sv), neråt (sv)

Adjective

downward (not comparable)

1. Moving, sloping or oriented downward.

   He spoke with a downward glance.

   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC:

     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;

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, [http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004808172.0001.000 page 12 page page 12]:

     […] in the Western Sky, the downward Sun
     Looks out illustrious from amid the Flush
     Of broken Clouds […]

   • 1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 28”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

     Emerging into the hill-road, Kemp naturally took the downward direction […]

   • 1952, Patricia Highsmith, chapter 7, in The Price of Salt‎^[2], Mineola, New York: Dover, published 2015, page 73:

     […] Therese saw a downward slant of sadness in her mouth now, a sadness not of wisdom but of defeat.

   • 1960 December, “The first hundred 25 kV a.c. electric locomotives for B.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 728:

     The tractive and braking forces are transmitted to the body through a downward projecting pivot pin in the normal way.

2. Located at a lower level.
   • 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, page 9:

     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;

   • 1793, Thomas Taylor (translator), The Phædo in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato, London: Benjamin and John White, p. 235,^[3]

     […] often revolving itself under the earth, [the river] flows into the more downward parts of Tartarus.

Derived terms

• downward dog
• downward drift
• downward-facing dog
• downward spiral

 

Translations

moving down

• Bulgarian: спадащ (bg) (spadašt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: neerwaarts (nl)
• Faroese: lækkandi, hallandi
• Finnish: laskeva (fi)
• German: nach unten gehend, absteigend (de), niedersinkend (de), Abwärts-
• Maori: whakararo
• Romanian: coborâtor (ro), descendent (ro)
• Russian: спуска́ющийся (ru) (spuskájuščijsja), нисходя́щий (ru) (nisxodjáščij)
• Swedish: nedåt (sv), neråt (sv)

Anagrams

• downdraw, draw down, drawdown