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1. At or to or toward the back or rear
   "tripped when he stepped backward";
   - back, backwards, rearward, rearwards
    
2. In a manner, order or direction the reverse of normal
   "the child put her jersey on backward"; "it's easy to get the 'i' and the 'e' backward in words like 'seize' and 'siege'";
   - backwards
    
3. In, to or toward a past time
   "lovers of the past looking fondly backward";
   - back

1. Slow to understand, learn or think; stupid
   "Poor backward Charlie was kept steadily at work";
   - half-witted, slow-witted, feebleminded, dull-witted [archaic]
    
2. Having made less than normal progress
   "an economically backward country"
    
3. Directed or facing toward the back or rear
   "a backward view"
    
4. (used of temperament or behaviour) marked by a retiring nature
   "a backward lover"

See also: adynamic, backswept, bashful, blate, cacuminal, converse, inverse, mentally retarded, rearward, receding, reflexive, regardant, regressive, retarded, retracted, retral, retroflex, retroflexed, retrograde, retrospective, returning, reverse, reversed, reversive, self-referent, sweptback, timid, transposed, undynamic

Antonym: ahead, forward

Encyclopedia: Backward