outward

Universal Words adjective [onlybeforenoun] 1 connected with the way people or things seem to be rather than with what is actually true: Mark showed no outward signs of distress. * She simply observes the outward forms of religion. * To all outward appearances (= as far as it was possible to judge from the outside) they were perfectly happy. * There were no outward signs that the house was inhabited. OPPINWARD 2 going away from a particular place, especially one that you are going to return to: the outward voyage / journey 3 away from the centre or a particular point: outward pressure / movement * outward investment (= in other countries) * Managers need to become more outward-looking (= more open to new ideas). OPPINWARD