• IPA: /ˈbæk.wə(ɹ)dz/

backwards

1. Oriented toward the back.

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

2. Reversed.

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

3. (derogatory) Behind current trends or technology.

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

4. Clumsy, inept, or inefficient, especially in learning.

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

• (oriented toward the back)
• (reversed) mirror image, switched, back to front
• (behind current trends or technology) crude, dated, obsolete, primitive; see also Thesaurus:obsolete
• (clumsy, inept, or inefficient) awkward, fumbling, incompetent, poor; see also Thesaurus:unskilled

• Italian: indietro
• Russian: напра́вленный
• Spanish: a contrapelo, hacia atrás

• Spanish: invertido

• French: arriéré
• Portuguese: atrasado
• Spanish: carca

backwards

1. Toward the back.

   The cabinet toppled over backwards.

   Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.—Søren Kierkegaard

2. In the opposite direction to usual.

   The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards.

3. In a manner such that the back precedes the front.

   The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.

4. towards the past; ago
   • 1693, [John Locke], “§189”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], OCLC 1161614482 ↗:

     some few reigns backwards

• (toward the back) hindwards, rearward, retrograde
• (in the opposite direction of usual) contrariwise, reversedly; See also Thesaurus:contrarily
• (so that the back precedes the front) back to front, in reverse; See also Thesaurus:back to front

• outwards
• inwards
• forwards
• backwards
• sidewards
• leewards
• windwards
• westwards
• eastwards
• southwards
• northwards
• shorewards
• landwards
• seawards
• skywards
• towards
• upwards
• downwards
• homewards
• sternwards

• German: rückwärts
• Spanish: hacia atrás

• German: rückwärts

• German: rückwärts