(also backward especially in AmE) adverb
1 towards a place or position that is behind:
I lost my balance and fell backwards. * He took a step backwards.
OPPFORWARD
2 in the opposite direction to the usual one:
'Ambulance' is written backwards so you can read it in the mirror. * In the movie they take a journey backwards through time.
3 towards a worse state:
I felt that going to live with my parents would be a step backwards.
OPPFORWARD
4 (AmE) = back to front at BACKn.
IDIOMS
backward(s) and forward(s) from one place or position to another and back again many times:
She rocked backwards and forwards on her chair.
bend / lean over backwards (to do sth) to make a great effort, especially in order to be helpful or fair:
I've bent over backwards to help him.
moreatKNOWv.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of backwards come from?
This entry for backwards is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Does backwards appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — backwards appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
