From Middle English outward, from Old English ūtweard, equivalent to out + -ward.

• (America) enPR: out'wərd, IPA: /ˈaʊt.wɚd/
• (RP) enPR: out'wəd, IPA: /ˈaʊt.wəd/

outward

1. outer; located towards the outside
2. visible, noticeable

   By all outward indications, he's a normal happy child, but if you talk to him, you will soon realize he has some psychological problems.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii ↗:

     Noble and milde this Perſean ſeemes to be,
     If outward habit Iudge the inward man.

3. Tending to the exterior or outside.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismond and Guiscardo”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:

     The fire will force its outward way.

4. (obsolete) Foreign; not civil or intestine.
   • a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC ↗:

     an outward war

• French: externe
• German: äußere
• Russian: нару́жный
• Spanish: externo, exterior

outward

1. Towards the outside; away from the centre. [from 10th c.]

   We are outward bound.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene i]:

     The wrong side may be turned outward.

2. (obsolete) Outwardly, in outer appearances; publicly. [14th]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:20.3?rgn=div2;view=fulltext iij]”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:

     ANd thenne the quene lete make a preuy dyner in london vnto the knyȝtes of the round table / and al was for to shewe outward that she had as grete Ioye in al other knyghtes of the table round as she had in sir launcelot / al only at that dyner she had sir Gawayne and his bretheren

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (nautical) Away from home.

• outwards

• inward
• inwards

• French: extérieur
• German: außen
• Russian: нару́жу

From out- + ward.

• (America) IPA: /aʊtˈwɔɹd/
• (RP) IPA: /aʊtˈwɔːd/

outward (outwards, present participle outwarding; simple past and past participle outwarded)

1. (obsolete, rare) To ward off; to keep out.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:

     Ne any armour could his dint out-ward; / But wheresoever it did light, it throughly shard.

outward (plural outwards)

1. A ward in a detached building connected with a hospital.