BACKWARDS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

At or to or toward the back or rear

Example:

she looked rearward out the window of the car

Synonyms:

back; backward; backwards; rearward; rearwards

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal

Example:

the child put her jersey on backward

Synonyms:

backward; backwards

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

Context examples:

They caught the man by his leg and arm, and swung him three times backwards and forwards with tremendous violence.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The carriage was ready: they were bringing it round to the front, and my master was pacing the pavement, Pilot following him backwards and forwards.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The great bonnet on Miss Mowcher's head, and the greater bonnet on the wall, began to go backwards and forwards again when she asked this question.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An abnormal alignment of the knee backwards that is due to a deformity in the knee joint.

(Genu Recurvatum, NCI Thesaurus)

It was not three months ago since, wild with joyful expectation, she had there run backwards and forwards some ten times a day, with an heart light, gay, and independent; looking forward to pleasures untasted and unalloyed, and free from the apprehension of evil as from the knowledge of it.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She sometimes endeavoured for a few minutes to read; but the book was soon thrown aside, and she returned to the more interesting employment of walking backwards and forwards across the room, pausing for a moment whenever she came to the window, in hopes of distinguishing the long-expected rap.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He stepped to the door, rejoicing at that moment in having the means of immediate communication, and, opening it, found himself on the stage of a theatre, and opposed to a ranting young man, who appeared likely to knock him down backwards.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It's a backwards analogy, but we are actually using light to turn on and off a biological switch, said Emmanuel Tzanakakis, professor of chemical and biological engineering at the School of Engineering at Tufts University and corresponding author of the study.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I was afraid to turn my shoulder to him, and when I left the galley I went out backwards—to the amusement of the sailors and hunters, who made a point of gathering in groups to witness my exit.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

An international team of astronomers has found that one of the stars in NGC 3201 is behaving very oddly — it is being flung backwards and forwards at speeds of several hundred thousand kilometres per hour, with the pattern repeating every 167 days.