Synonyms for backwards

Princeton's WordNet(2.67 / 3 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. back, backward, backwards, rearward, rearwards(adverb)

   at or to or toward the back or rear

   "he moved back"; "tripped when he stepped backward"; "she looked rearward out the window of the car"

   Synonyms:
   rearwards, back, backward, rearward

2. backward, backwards(adverb)

   in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal

   "it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward"

   Synonyms:
   rearwards, back, backward, rearward

Wiktionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate these synonyms:

1. backwards(adverb)

   Oriented toward the back.

   The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement.

   Synonyms:
   rearward, hindwards, retrograde

2. backwards(adverb)

   Reversed.

   The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.

   Synonyms:
   reversedly, contrariwise, mirror image, back to front, switched

3. backwards(adjective)

   Behind current trends or technology.

   Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.

   Synonyms:
   in reverse, back to front, primitive, dated, crude, obsolete

4. backwards(adjective)

   Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.

   He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.

   Synonyms:
   fumbling, awkward, incompetent, poor

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. magnetic reversal

   going the opposite way

   we should do the steps backwards to solve the problem.

   Submitted by rinat on September 4, 2019  

2. reverse order

   they have the same meaning

   reverse the order you are headed go backwards

   Submitted by anonymous on December 26, 2019  

Dictionary of English Synonymes(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. backwards(ad.)

   Synonyms:
   regressively, rearwards, aback, behind, ABAFT

PPDB, the paraphrase database(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these paraphrases:

1. List of paraphrases for "backwards":

   back, backward, retrograde, rearward, upside-down, behind, ago, back-to-front

How to pronounce backwards?

How to say backwards in sign language?

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How to use backwards in a sentence?

1. Elizabeth Bowen:

   Intimacies between women go backwards, beginning with revelations and ending up in small talk without loss of esteem.

2. Ian Storey:

   It appears the tribunal panel is bending over backwards to accommodate China's interests and appear even-handed to both the Philippines and China.

3. Thomas Carlyle:

   A man with a half volition goes backwards and forwards, and makes no way on the smoothest road a man with a whole volition advances on the roughest, and will reach his purpose, if there be even a little worthiness in it. The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.

4. De Juniac:

   We have made enormous progress at Air France-KLM with the group's 100,000 staff, when I arrived there were significant losses, the company was being suffocated by its debt, and we had lost our way in terms of products, we were going backwards.

5. Elas Massri:

   [ Those car companies ] have a clear intention to go global, in contrast to what we’re seeing in globalized countries that want to go backwards.

Images & Illustrations of backwards