Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective At, near, or belonging to the front or forepart; fore.
  • adjective Located ahead or in advance.
  • adjective Going, tending, or moving toward a position in front.
  • adjective Sports Advancing toward an opponent's goal.
  • adjective Moving in a prescribed direction or order for normal use.
  • adjective Ardently inclined; eager.
  • adjective Lacking restraint or modesty; presumptuous or bold.
  • adjective Being ahead of current economic, political, or technological trends; progressive.
  • adjective Deviating radically from convention or tradition; extreme.
  • adjective Exceptionally advanced; precocious.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or done in preparation for the future.
  • adverb Toward or tending to the front; frontward.
  • adverb Into consideration.
  • adverb In or toward the future.
  • adverb In the prescribed direction or sequence for normal use.
  • adverb In an advanced position or a configuration registering a future time.
  • adverb At or to a different time; earlier or later.
  • noun A player in certain games, such as basketball, soccer, or hockey, who is part of the forward line of the offense.
  • noun The position played by such a person.
  • transitive verb To send on to a subsequent destination or address. synonym: send.
  • transitive verb To help advance; promote. synonym: advance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Toward a part, place, or point of time before or in advance; onward: with reference either to motion or to position: opposed to backward.
  • With advancing steps; with good progress.
  • Toward the terminal point.
  • noun Agreement; covenant.
  • Situated in the front or fore part; anterior; fore; directed toward some point or position in advance from the starting-point: as, a forward cabin in a ship; the forward movement of an army.
  • Being in a condition of advancement; well advanced with respect to progress, attainment, development (as the season), growth (as vegetation), or (rarely) position or rank: as, the building is in a forward state; he is forward in his studies; a forward crop.
  • Ready in action or disposition; prompt; earnest; also, in a derogatory sense, over-confident; assuming; presumptuous; pert; as, to be forward in good works; a forward chit.
  • Foremost.
  • Synonyms Willing, zealous; presuming, presumptuous, impertinent.
  • To send forward; send toward the place of destination; transmit: as, to forward a letter or despatches.
  • To advance; help onward; promote; further; encourage: as, to forward the growth of a plant.
  • In bookbinding, to fit (a book) with back and covers, and prepare it for the finisher.
  • In cricket, in front of the batsman's wicket: said of a fielder's position.
  • noun In foot-ball, basket-ball, and other games, a player in the front line of the team.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete An agreement; a covenant; a promise.
  • adverb Toward a part or place before or in front; onward; in advance; progressively; -- opposed to backward.
  • adjective Near, or at the fore part; in advance of something else.
  • adjective Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense, overready; too hasty.
  • adjective Ardent; eager; earnest; in an ill sense, less reserved or modest than is proper; bold; confident.
  • adjective Advanced beyond the usual degree; advanced for the season
  • transitive verb To help onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to quicken; to hasten
  • transitive verb To send forward; to send toward the place of destination; to transmit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Agreement; covenant.
  • adjective Toward the front or at the front.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English foreweard : fore-, fore- + -weard, -ward.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English foreweard ("condition, bargain, agreement, contract, treaty, assurance"), equivalent to fore- +‎ ward (“ward, keeping”). Cognate with Scots forward ("covenant, compact"), Dutch voorwaarde ("condition, terms, proviso, stipulation"). More at fore-, ward.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard ("forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former"), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore +‎ -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts ("forward"), German vorwärts ("forward").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word forward.

Examples

  • We now look forward to the latter part of the present campaign for the World Cup in 2010 and certainly look ­forward to the

    Football news, match reports and fixtures | guardian.co.uk

  • A boy, they believe, will be able to look after them in old age, he will carry the name forward of the family - and that's very, very important to Indian families.

    Researchers: Indians Increasingly Use Abortion to Ensure Male Child

  • When the Calcutta intelligence chief suggested someone go on an “errand-boy visit” to check out the neighboring MO operation in Kandy, Betty had immediately put her name forward in hopes of seeing her friend again.

    A Covert Affair

  • When he was deputy mayor of the eastern port of Xiamen, he put his name forward as a candidate to be promoted for mayor—without the approval of the party leadership, according to people who knew him at the time.

    Early Hardship Shaped Xi's World View

  • While Grant may rue the missed opportunity, perhaps he should think of putting his name forward for a different gong – Fleet Street's scoop of the year.

    Rebekah Brooks in firing line as phone-hacking scandal refuses to go away

  • When the Calcutta intelligence chief suggested someone go on an “errand-boy visit” to check out the neighboring MO operation in Kandy, Betty had immediately put her name forward in hopes of seeing her friend again.

    A Covert Affair

  • Glendening D, first successfully put her name forward for the job 10 years ago.

    No objections raised as Judge O'Malley appears before Md. Senate panel

  • In 1817 he retired to Dublin, where in 1818 he put his name forward for the vacant Catholic archbishopric of Armagh and was astonished when the pope said yes.

    American Connections

  • In 1817 he retired to Dublin, where in 1818 he put his name forward for the vacant Catholic archbishopric of Armagh and was astonished when the pope said yes.

    American Connections

  • Following the events I will refer to only as The Monica Aspel Debacle, and with no Ginny Pascoe around with whom to find comfort, I decided at the age of twenty-seven that enough was enough and put my name forward for a transfer from the London office of C-Tec to its New York base.

    Turning Thirty

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.