backwards
From WikiWord, the free dictionary
/ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)dz/
English
Definitions
adjective
- Oriented toward the back.“The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement.”
- Reversed.“The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.”
- Behind current trends or technology.“Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.”
- Clumsy, inept, or inefficient, especially in learning.“He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.”
adverb
- Toward the back.“Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.—Søren Kierkegaard”
- In the opposite direction to usual.“The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards.”
- In a manner such that the back precedes the front.“The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.”
- Towards the past; ago
Related words
Synonyms
crudedatedobsoleteprimitiveawkwardfumblingincompetentpoorback to frontmirror imageswitchedcontrariwisereversedlyin reversehindwardsrearwardretrogradeback