What does backwards mean?
Definitions for backwards
back·wards
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word backwards.
Princeton's WordNet
back, backward, backwards, rearward, rearwardsadverb
at or to or toward the back or rear
"he moved back"; "tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked rearward out the window of the car"
backward, backwardsadverb
in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal
"it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward"
Wiktionary
backwardsadverb
Toward the back.
backwardsadverb
In the opposite direction of usual.
The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards.
backwardsadverb
In a manner such that the back precedes the front.
The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.
backwardsadjective
Oriented toward the back.
The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement.
backwardsadjective
Reversed.
The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.
backwardsadjective
Behind current trends or technology.
Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.
backwardsadjective
Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.
He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.
Etymology: . See -s#Etymology 3
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Backward, Backwardsadverb
Etymology: from back and weard, Sax. that is, towards the back.
They went backward, and their faces were backward. Gen. ix.
In leaping with weights, the arms are first cast backwards, and then forwards, with so much the greater force; for the hands go backward before they take their rise. Francis Bacon, Nat. H.
Then darting from her malignant eyes,
She cast him backward as he strove to rise. John Dryden, Æneid.We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.The monstrous sight
Struck them with horrour backward; but far worse
Urg’d them behind. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. vi.Are not the rays of light, in passing by the edges and sides of bodies, bent several times backwards and forwards with a motion like that of an eel? Isaac Newton, Opticks.
To prove the possibility of a thing, there is no argument to that which looks backwards; for what has been done or suffered, may certainly be done or suffered again. South.
No, doubtless; for the mind can backward cast
Upon herself, her understanding light. John Davies.The work went backward; and the more he strove
T’ advance the suit, the farther from her love. Dryden.They have spread one of the worst languages in the world, if we look upon it some reigns backwards. John Locke.
I never yet saw man,
But she would spell him backward; if fair-fac’d,
She’d swear the gentleman should be her sister;
If black, why, nature, drawing of an antick,
Made a foul blot; if tall, a launce ill-headed. William Shakespeare, Much ado about Nothing.
Wikipedia
Backwards
Backward or Backwards is a relative direction.
ChatGPT
backwards
Backwards refers to the direction or orientation towards the rear or the opposite direction from which one is facing or moving. It can also imply reverting to an earlier or less advanced state or form, or contrary to the usual way or expectations.
Webster Dictionary
Backwardsadverb
with the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward
Backwardsadverb
toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward
Backwardsadverb
on the back, or with the back downward
Backwardsadverb
toward, or in, past time or events; ago
Backwardsadverb
by way of reflection; reflexively
Backwardsadverb
from a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin
Backwardsadverb
in a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards
Freebase
Backwards
Backwards is the fourth Red Dwarf novel. It is set on the fictional backwards universe version of Earth. The novel was written by Rob Grant on his own. It follows on directly from the second Grant Naylor novel, Better Than Life, ignoring Last Human. As well as continuing the general conceit from the episode Backwards, it contains minor elements from the episode Dimension Jump, and all of the plot from Gunmen of the Apocalypse. An audiobook of Backwards was also produced, read by the author.
Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
backwards
A technical word made use of in the British service to express the retrograde movement of troops from line into column, and vice versa. Also a word of command in the U. S. service, to cause a man, or body of men, to march to the rear without changing front.
British National Corpus
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'backwards' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2814
Adverbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'backwards' in Adverbs Frequency: #306
Anagrams for backwards »
drawbacks
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of backwards in Chaldean Numerology is: 6
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of backwards in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1
Examples of backwards in a Sentence
Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.
Nobody gets to live life backwards. Look ahead -- that's where your future lies.
We are going backwards in time, we are literally going backwards in time. It makes no sense how anyone thinks it’s their right to tell a woman what to do with her body. I just don’t get it.
I don’t want to see us go backwards, but organized interests fueled by ideology and huge amounts of money are trying to take us backwards. So I feel as strongly today as I ever have that we all have to stand up and defend our country, and most importantly, our democracy.
A man with a half volition goes backwards and forwards, and makes no way on the smoothest road a man with a whole volition advances on the roughest, and will reach his purpose, if there be even a little worthiness in it. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for backwards
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- pozpátkuCzech
- rückwärtsGerman
- προς τα πίσω, επαναφορά επιστροφήGreek
- malantaŭenEsperanto
- invertido, a contrapelo, hacia atrásSpanish
- tagasisuunas, saamatu, vanamoodne, peegelpilt, tahapoole, tagurpidiEstonian
- väärinpäin, kelvoton, taaksepäin, takaperin, vanhanaikainenFinnish
- visszafeléHungarian
- ke belakangIndonesian
- indietroItalian
- 뒤로Korean
- بهرهودوا, پاشهوپاش, دواکهوتوKurdish
- whakatuaraMāori
- achterwaartsDutch
- смотрящий, назад, направленныйRussian
- bakåtriktad, efter, omvänd, baklänges, efterbliven, bakvändSwedish
- назадUkrainian
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"backwards." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 2 Oct. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/backwards>.
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