backward as an adjective: - 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
as a adverb: - 1
- 2
- 3
backward
adjective
1 backward
Directed or facing toward the back or rear.
Roget 133:
late,
tardy,
slow,
behindhand,
serotine†,
belated,
postliminious†,
posthumous,
backward,
unpunctual,
untimely;
delayed,
postponed;
dilatory
etc.
(slow)
275;
delayed
etc.
v.;
in abeyance.
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Roget 603:
unwilling;
not in the vein,
loth,
loath,
shy of,
disinclined,
indisposed,
averse,
reluctant,
not content;
adverse
etc.
(opposed)
708;
laggard,
backward,
remiss,
slack,
slow to;
indifferent
etc.
866;
scrupulous;
squeamish
etc.
(fastidious)
868;
repugnant
etc.
(dislike)
867;
restiff†,
restive;
demurring
etc.
v.;
unconsenting
etc.
(refusing)
764;
involuntary
etc.
601.
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2 backward
used of temperament or behavior Marked by a retiring nature.
3 backward
4 backward
Having made less than normal progress.
adverb
1 backward
At or to or toward the back or rear:
— Tripped when he stepped backward.
synonyms: back, backwards, rearward, rearwards.
Roget 133:
late;
lateward†,
backward;
late in the day;
at sunset,
at the eleventh hour,
at length,
at last;
ultimately;
after time,
behind time,
after the deadline;
too late;
too late for
etc.
135.
slowly,
leisurely,
deliberately,
at one's leisure;
ex post facto;
sine die.
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2 backward
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.
synonym: backwards.
3 backward
In or to or toward a past time:
— Lovers of the past looking fondly backward.
synonym: back.
Moby thesaurus: Micawberish, Olympian, a priori, a rebours, a reculons, about, afraid, aft, after, after time, aftermost, again, against the grain, ago, aloof, anticlockwise, apathetic, arear, around, arrested, arsy-varsy, ascending, ass over elbows, ass-backwards, astern, averse, away, axial, babbling, back, back when, back-flowing, back-to-front, backwards, balking, balky, bashful, behind, behind the times, behind time, behindhand, belated, belatedly, benighted, bigoted, blank, blind, blithering, blocked, bottom side up, bottom up, burbling, capsized, chary, checked, chiastic, chilled, chilly, coarse, cold, conservative, constrained, contrarily, contrariwise, conversely, cool, counter, counterclockwise, coy, crackbrained, cracked, crazy, cretinistic, cretinous, crude, dallying, deep into, delayed, delayed-action, delaying, demure, descending, detached, detained, die-hard, diffident, dilatory, dillydallying, dim, dim-witted, discreet, distant, dithering, down-trending, downward, drifting, driveling, drooling, dull, dumb, early, easygoing, embryonic, everted, ex post facto, expressionless, far on, feebleminded, flowing, fluent, flying, fogyish, foot-dragging, forbidding, frigid, fro, frosty, going, gone by, grudging, guarded, gyrational, gyratory, half-baked, half-witted, head over heels, heels over head, held up, hesitant, hidebound, hind, hinder, hindermost, hindhand, hindmost, hindward, hindwards, hung up, hyperbatic, icy, idiotic, ignorant, imbecile, imbecilic, impassive, impeded, impersonal, in a bind, in abeyance, in embryo, in ovo, in reverse, in the rough, inaccessible, indifferent, indisposed, inside out, into the past, introverted, invaginated, inversed, inversely, inverted, jammed, lackadaisical, laggard, lagging, late, latish, lax, lazy, lingering, loath, loitering, maundering, medieval, mentally defective, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, mentally retarded, modest, mongoloid, moratory, moronic, mounting, narrow, never on time, none too soon, nonprogressive, not all there, obstructed, obtuse, offish, old-fashioned, old-fogyish, old-line, opposed to change, outside in, over, overdue, oversimple, palindromic, passing, perfunctory, plunging, poor, posterior, posteriorly, postern, preservative, procrastinating, procrastinative, procrastinatory, progressive, quiet, reactionary, rear, rearmost, rearward, rearwards, reductionistic, reductive, reflex, reflowing, refluent, regressive, reluctant, reminiscently, remiss, remote, removed, renitent, repressed, reserved, restive, restrained, resupinate, retarded, reticent, retiring, retrad, retral, retroactive, retroactively, retrograde, retrogressive, retrospective, retrospectively, retroverted, reverse, reversed, right-wing, rising, rotary, rotational, rotatory, rough, roughcast, roughhewn, round, round about, rude, rudimental, rudimentary, running, rushing, self-effacing, set back, shrinking, shuffling, shy, sideward, simple, simpleminded, simpletonian, simplistic, since, sinking, slack, slobbering, slow, slow to, slow-witted, slowed down, sluggish, soaring, standoff, standoffish, standpat, stopped, streaming, struggling, stunted, stupid, subdued, subnormal, suppressed, tail, tailward, tailwards, tardy, thickheaded, timid, to the rear, topsy-turvy, transposed, turned around, ultraconservative, unaffable, unapproachable, unassertive, unassured, unblown, uncongenial, uncultivated, uncultured, uncut, undemonstrative, underdeveloped, undeveloped, uneager, unenlightened, unenthusiastic, unexpansive, unfashioned, unfinished, unformed, ungenial, unhewn, uninformed, unlabored, unlicked, unpolished, unprocessed, unprogressive, unpunctual, unready, unrefined, untimely, untreated, unwilling, unworked, unwrought, unzealous, up-trending, upside down, upside-down, upward, vice versa, widdershins, withdrawn, wrong side out, wrong-way, wrong-way around ... show more.
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