backward

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“
He raised his arms with a despairing motion, then let them drop heavily to his side And then two strong hands caught his throat, a body pressed hard against him, and he was borne backward--backward--to the cliff CHAPTER XX AFTER THE STORM I was sitting on the verandah, writing a letter to Belle Treherne.

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Definitions (31)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. adjective Directed or facing toward the back or rear.
  2. adjective Done or arranged in a manner or order that is opposite to previous occurrence or normal use.
  3. adjective Unwilling to act; reluctant; shy.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Rumpar staggered backward, his expression incredulous, and then he landed in a sitting position on the floor. —  ASCENDANCE
  • All that he could envisage was a perpetual journey backward, backward, ever backward: the Renaissance, the Dark Ages, Rome, Greece, Babylon, Egypt, the Ice Age. —  FSF,October2007
  • I should think it silly and wrong indeed not to be regardful of my own health at present; it would not do to be ill NOW I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. —  The Life of Charlotte Bronte Volume 2
  • The crystal star began to drift backward, and he saw their faces: desiccated and fleshless, long dead. —  Marv wolfman - Superman Returns
  • Aganippe took a step backward, then another, hoping to ease out of the confrontation. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 01 - July 1996
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

upward ·  sideways ·  forward ·  sidewise ·  deft ·  outward ·  convulsive ·  frantic ·  abrupt ·  hasty ·  southward ·  erratic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from backward, adv.
  2. from backward, a.
  3. from backward, adv.
 

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/ˈbæckwərd/
by American Heritage

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