Word Direct Answers

What does "backwards" mean?

Backwards: Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward.

Additional senses

  1. 2.On the back, or with the back downward. Thou wilt fall backward. Shak.
  2. 3.Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. Some reigns backward. Locke.
  3. 4.By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies.
  4. 5.From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. The work went backward. Dryden.
  5. 6.In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak.

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