Synonyms for backwards
back·wards

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. backwardsadjective

   Oriented toward the back.

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

   Synonyms:
   rearward, hindwards, retrograde

2. backwardsadverb

   In the opposite direction of usual.

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

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

3. backwardsadjective

   In a manner such that the back precedes the front.

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

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

4. backwardsadjective

   Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.

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

   Synonyms:
   fumbling, awkward, incompetent, poor

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.7 / 3 votes

1. back, backward, backwards, rearward, rearwardsadverb

   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, backwardsadverb

   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

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

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 SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. backwardsadjective

   Synonyms:
   regressively, rearwards, aback, behind, ABAFT

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "backwards":

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

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How to use backwards in a sentence?

1. Kamala Harris:

   People with PTSD tend to act out. They tend to self-medicate. Which means they're going to be on drugs or they may be an alcoholic. And then they're going to get into fights and they have a really short fuse. And guess what happens ? All of a sudden you don't qualify for VA. That's wrong because again we are not taking into account the way we have designed or enforcing the system the realities of that person's life. It's backwards !

2. Michael Frerichs:

   We’ll make far less in interest than we’ll be paying in interest to the bondholders, i think we need to make these investments in infrastructure, but we're going about it in the wrong order. It seems backwards issuing the bonds and hoping they get an appropriation to spend them.

3. Robert F. Lauterborn:

   It was in rebuttal to the 4P’s concept that had been the cornerstone of marketing teaching since 1960 or so (and still may be, in many places). I felt that the 4P’s was wrong-headed because it looked at the marketing process from the company out, instead of from the customer in, which I felt was backwards.

4. Vladimir Putin:

   Ukraine has experienced so much religious freedom over the last 30 years, and that's the threat [right now]. I have quite a few relationships with evangelical leaders, pastors and nonprofits, and the threat for them is about going backwards — going backwards 30 years, 40 years, and not being able to express their faith.

5. Witold Waszczykowski:

   This is a man who destroyed my youth and that of others, these are people who pushed Poland backwards by many decades.