Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Stubbornly contrary and disobedient; obstinate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Turned away; turned from: opposed to facing.
- Perversely inclined; wilful; refractory; disobedient; petulant; peevish.
- Marked by or manifesting perverse feeling; ill-natured; ungracious; caustic.
Wiktionary
- adj. archaic Disobedient, contrary, unmanageable; difficult to deal with; with an evil disposition.
- prep. obsolete Away from.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not willing to yield or compIy with what is required or is reasonable; perverse; disobedient; peevish.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition
Etymologies
- From Middle English froward, fraward, equivalent to fro + -ward. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Thou art wise to go to the hotel, and froward is the man that avoideth it.”
“He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong (Ps 2: 4; Job 5: 12, 13).”
“32 For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“It then occurred to him that the sight of this ragged crone, and the chronicle of her woes, might be an excellent medicine for his "froward," ungrateful wife, and teach her to know when she was well off; and after speaking in confidence with the old woman, he bade him who recounts the adventure escort her into the lady's presence.”
“To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;”
“Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:”
“Humanity moved froward and into the 21st century and you remain focused and firmly stuck in the 19th and fixated on this conflict it seems.”
Virginia governor declares April as Confederate History Month
“Please refrain from froward and perverse language.”
“But we should talk about how some of the more desirable aspects [of the idea] – the centralisation of information by the Revenue, axing of paper work and the reduction of the burden on employers – could be brought froward.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘froward’.
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phrontistery - f
from phrontistery.info
fabaceous, fabiform, fabulist, faburden, face-cord, facetiae, facia, facinorous, factious, factitious, factitive, factive and 418 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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Random Words! Add Your Own! :D
Randomness time! Add your own words. ❤
Love, bucket, brigade, actuary, canal, canasta, why is the door open, coconut, stochastic, haphazard, accidental, chance and 38 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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Unsavoury Types
insults, epithets, etc.
drotchel, drossel, drazel, flutch, lollard, scobberlotcher, ragabash, faineant, cad, buffoon, martinet, tosspot and 116 more...
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quality words
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
ineffable, septuagenarian, sesquipedalian, argyle, coalescence, profundity, vivisepulture, defenestrate, concatenate, usurp, diatribe, veracious and 461 more...
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There's a word for that?
temerity, tacit, froward, faineant, caterwaul, menagerie, ennui, sine qua non, lissom, multifarious, laconic, katzenjammer and 240 more...
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Studying
parry, palliate, cadge, dissemble, bathos, arrogate, dilatory, ipso facto, ontogeny, recondite, specious, miasma and 90 more...
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Words that delight me
tepid, perfunctory, trope, benign, inordinate, bewildering, ersatz, boon, delectable, apt, scuttlebutt, sequester and 398 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for froward.
rolig Compare the word untoward, which has a similar, though not identical, meaning ("inappropriate, unacceptable, etc.). Surely, the words must be derived from to and fro (which I guess meant originally "toward and away from"). Nov 14, 2011
AnWulf froward - (of a person) difficult to deal with; contrary.
frowardly - adverb,
frowardness - noun Nov 13, 2011
bilby
Gaze no more on that killing eye,
For fear the native cruelty
Doom you, as it doth all, to die :
For fear lest the fair object move
Your froward heart to fall in love :
Then you yourself my rival prove.
- Thomas Carew, 'A Looking-Glass'. Jul 28, 2009
yarb Yes, this is a beaut. I'm going to start using this with my family as an admonishment. Nov 29, 2007
reesetee Oh, don't be so froward, chained_bear. ;-) Nov 29, 2007
chained_bear I love this word. Nov 29, 2007
reesetee I haven't heard this word spoken in ages, and then this morning there it was, in my audiobook. :-) Nov 29, 2007
minerva You don't know how many times I thought this was a typo for forward... Nov 29, 2007