"backwards" meaning in English

See backwards in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈbækwɜːdz/ [UK], /ˈbækwɝdz/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upwards.wav [UK] Forms: backwards [positive], more backwards [comparative], most backwards [superlative]
Etymology: back + -wards Etymology templates: {{ety-suffix|back|wards}} back + -wards Head templates: {{adj|more=true}} [POS TABLE]
  1. Something that is backwards is inefficient and not advanced.
    Sense id: simple-backwards-en-adj-3Mq7QfMV
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Terms suffixed with -wards

Preposition

IPA: /ˈbækwɜːdz/ [UK], /ˈbækwɝdz/ [US] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upwards.wav [UK] Forms: backwards
Etymology: back + -wards Etymology templates: {{ety-suffix|back|wards}} back + -wards Head templates: {{preposition}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If something is backwards, it is facing the back.
    Sense id: simple-backwards-en-prep-5LpDB46e
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Terms suffixed with -wards
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        "1": "back",
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  "etymology_text": "back + -wards",
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        "If something is backwards, it is facing the back."
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɜːdz/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɝdz/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
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    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upwards.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
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    }
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  "forms": [
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      "form": "backwards",
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      "form": "more backwards",
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        "comparative"
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    },
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      "form": "most backwards",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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        {
          "text": "This society is very backwards, primitive in comparison to the country we came from."
        }
      ],
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        "Something that is backwards is inefficient and not advanced."
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      "id": "simple-backwards-en-adj-3Mq7QfMV"
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  "sounds": [
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      "tags": [
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        "If something is backwards, it is facing the back."
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      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɜːdz/",
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      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɝdz/",
      "tags": [
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upwards.wav",
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        "UK"
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    }
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "back + -wards",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backwards",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more backwards",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most backwards",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
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      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɜːdz/",
      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈbækwɝdz/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
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    },
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-upwards.wav",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "backwards"
}

Download raw JSONL data for backwards meaning in English (1.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2024-12-20 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.