backward

• POS: Adjective, Adverb
• HYPHEN: back=ward
• COUNT in NET: 3 in 3 verses (in OT : 3 in 3 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

backward, adv. [Back, adv. + -ward.].

•  With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward.  [1913 Webster]
•  Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward.  [1913 Webster]
•  On the back, or with the back downward.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou wilt fall backward."  [1913 Webster]
•  Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.  [1913 Webster]

  "Some reigns backward."  [1913 Webster]
•  By way of reflection; reflexively.  Sir J. Davies.  [1913 Webster]
•  From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin.  [1913 Webster]

  "The work went backward."  [1913 Webster]
•  In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards.  [1913 Webster]

  "We might have . . . beat them backward home."  [1913 Webster]

backward, a. 

•  Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.  [1913 Webster]
•  Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath.  [1913 Webster]

  "For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child.  South.  [1913 Webster]
•  Late or behindhand; as, a backward season.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state.  [1913 Webster]
•  Already past or gone; bygone.  [1913 Webster]

  "And flies unconscious o'er each backward year."  [1913 Webster]

backward, n. 

 The state behind or past.  [1913 Webster]
"In the dark backward and abysm of time."  [1913 Webster]

backward, v. t. 

 To keep back; to hinder.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

backward, adv. & adj.
--adv. = BACKWARDS.

Usage

Backwards is now more common, esp. in literal senses.
--adj.
1 directed to the rear or starting-point (a backward look).
2 reversed.
3 mentally retarded or slow.
4 reluctant, shy, unassertive.

Derivative

backwardness n.

Etymology

earlier abackward, assoc. with BACK

THESAURUS

backward

Micawberish, Olympian, a priori, a rebours, a reculons, about, afraid, aft, after, after time, aftermost, again, against the grain, ago, aloof, anticlockwise, apathetic, arear, around, arrested, arsy-varsy, ascending, ass over elbows, ass-backwards, astern, averse, away, axial, babbling, back, back when, back-flowing, back-to-front, backwards, balking, balky, bashful, behind, behind the times, behind time, behindhand, belated, belatedly, benighted, bigoted, blank, blind, blithering, blocked, bottom side up, bottom up, burbling, capsized, chary, checked, chiastic, chilled, chilly, coarse, cold, conservative, constrained, contrarily, contrariwise, conversely, cool, counter, counterclockwise, coy, crackbrained, cracked, crazy, cretinistic, cretinous, crude, dallying, deep into, delayed, delayed-action, delaying, demure, descending, detached, detained, die-hard, diffident, dilatory, dillydallying, dim, dim-witted, discreet, distant, dithering, down-trending, downward, drifting, driveling, drooling, dull, dumb, early, easygoing, embryonic, everted, ex post facto, expressionless, far on, feebleminded, flowing, fluent, flying, fogyish, foot-dragging, forbidding, frigid, fro, frosty, going, gone by, grudging, guarded, gyrational, gyratory, half-baked, half-witted, head over heels, heels over head, held up, hesitant, hidebound, hind, hinder, hindermost, hindhand, hindmost, hindward, hindwards, hung up, hyperbatic, icy, idiotic, ignorant, imbecile, imbecilic, impassive, impeded, impersonal, in a bind, in abeyance, in embryo, in ovo, in reverse, in the rough, inaccessible, indifferent, indisposed, inside out, into the past, introverted, invaginated, inversed, inversely, inverted, jammed, lackadaisical, laggard, lagging, late, latish, lax, lazy, lingering, loath, loitering, maundering, medieval, mentally defective, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, mentally retarded, modest, mongoloid, moratory, moronic, mounting, narrow, never on time, none too soon, nonprogressive, not all there, obstructed, obtuse, offish, old-fashioned, old-fogyish, old-line, opposed to change, outside in, over, overdue, oversimple, palindromic, passing, perfunctory, plunging, poor, posterior, posteriorly, postern, preservative, procrastinating, procrastinative, procrastinatory, progressive, quiet, reactionary, rear, rearmost, rearward, rearwards, reductionistic, reductive, reflex, reflowing, refluent, regressive, reluctant, reminiscently, remiss, remote, removed, renitent, repressed, reserved, restive, restrained, resupinate, retarded, reticent, retiring, retrad, retral, retroactive, retroactively, retrograde, retrogressive, retrospective, retrospectively, retroverted, reverse, reversed, right-wing, rising, rotary, rotational, rotatory, rough, roughcast, roughhewn, round, round about, rude, rudimental, rudimentary, running, rushing, self-effacing, set back, shrinking, shuffling, shy, sideward, simple, simpleminded, simpletonian, simplistic, since, sinking, slack, slobbering, slow, slow to, slow-witted, slowed down, sluggish, soaring, standoff, standoffish, standpat, stopped, streaming, struggling, stunted, stupid, subdued, subnormal, suppressed, tail, tailward, tailwards, tardy, thickheaded, timid, to the rear, topsy-turvy, transposed, turned around, ultraconservative, unaffable, unapproachable, unassertive, unassured, unblown, uncongenial, uncultivated, uncultured, uncut, undemonstrative, underdeveloped, undeveloped, uneager, unenlightened, unenthusiastic, unexpansive, unfashioned, unfinished, unformed, ungenial, unhewn, uninformed, unlabored, unlicked, unpolished, unprocessed, unprogressive, unpunctual, unready, unrefined, untimely, untreated, unwilling, unworked, unwrought, unzealous, up-trending, upside down, upside-down, upward, vice versa, widdershins, withdrawn, wrong side out, wrong-way, wrong-way around

ROGET THESAURUS

backward

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.

Lateness

N lateness, tardiness, delay, delation, cunctation, procrastination, deferring, deferral, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite, pause, reprieve, stay of execution, protraction, prolongation, Fabian policy, medecine expectante, chancery suit, federal case, leeway, high time, moratorium, holdover, late, tardy, slow, behindhand, serotine, belated, postliminious, posthumous, backward, unpunctual, untimely, delayed, postponed, dilatory, delayed, in abeyance, late, lateward, backward, late in the day, at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last, ultimately, after time, behind time, after the deadline, too late, too late for, slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure, ex post facto, sine die, nonum prematur in annum, against the sunbeams serotine and lucent, ie meglio tardi che mai, deliberando saepe perit occasio, lateness, tardiness, delay, delation, cunctation, procrastination, deferring, deferral, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite, pause, reprieve, stay of execution, protraction, prolongation, Fabian policy, medecine expectante, chancery suit, federal case, leeway, high time, moratorium, holdover, late, tardy, slow, behindhand, serotine, belated, postliminious, posthumous, backward, unpunctual, untimely, delayed, postponed, dilatory, delayed, in abeyance, late, lateward, backward, late in the day, at sunset, at the eleventh hour, at length, at last, ultimately, after time, behind time, after the deadline, too late, too late for, slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure, ex post facto, sine die, nonum prematur in annum, against the sunbeams serotine and lucent, ie meglio tardi che mai, deliberando saepe perit occasio.