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Adverb: backward  bak-wurd [N. Amer], bak-wûd [Brit]
  1. At or to or toward the back or rear
    "tripped when he stepped backward";
    - back, backwards, rearward, rearwards
     
  2. In a manner, order or direction the reverse of normal
    "the child put her jersey on backward"; "it's easy to get the 'i' and the 'e' backward in words like 'seize' and 'siege'";
    - backwards
     
  3. In, to or toward a past time
    "lovers of the past looking fondly backward";
    - back
Adjective: backward  bak-wurd [N. Amer], bak-wûd [Brit]
  1. Slow to understand, learn or think; stupid
    "Poor backward Charlie was kept steadily at work";
    - half-witted, slow-witted, feebleminded, dull-witted [archaic]
     
  2. Having made less than normal progress
    "an economically backward country"
     
  3. Directed or facing toward the back or rear
    "a backward view"
     
  4. (used of temperament or behaviour) marked by a retiring nature
    "a backward lover"

See also: adynamic, backswept, bashful, blate, cacuminal, converse, inverse, mentally retarded, rearward, receding, reflexive, regardant, regressive, retarded, retracted, retral, retroflex, retroflexed, retrograde, retrospective, returning, reverse, reversed, reversive, self-referent, sweptback, timid, transposed, undynamic

Antonym: ahead, forward

Encyclopedia: Backward