backward Meaning, Definition & Usage

adjective directed or facing toward the back or rear
- a backward view
adjective (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature
- a backward lover
adjective satellite retarded in intellectual development
half-witted; feebleminded; slow-witted.
adjective satellite having made less than normal progress
- an economically backward country
adverb at or to or toward the back or rear
rearward; rearwards; back; backwards.
- he moved back
- tripped when he stepped backward
- she looked rearward out the window of the car
adverb in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal
backwards.
- it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'
- the child put her jersey on backward
adverb in or to or toward a past time
back.
- set the clocks back an hour
- never look back
- lovers of the past looking fondly backward

Back, adv. + -ward.

With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward.
Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward.
On the back, or with the back downward.
Thou wilt fall backward. Shak.
Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.
Some reigns backward. Locke.
By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies.
From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin.
The work went backward. Dryden.
In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards.
We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak.

Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.
Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath.
For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. Pope.
Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. "The backward learner." South.
Late or behindhand; as, a backward season.
Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state.
Already past or gone; bygone. R.
And flies unconscious o'er each backward year. Byron.

The state behind or past. Obs.
In the dark backward and abysm of time. Shak.