Noun: backwardness bak-wurd-nus [N. Amer], bak-wûd-nus [Brit]
- State of being behind in development, progress, or sophistication
"The region's economic backwardness was due to lack of infrastructure"
- [archaic] Lack of normal development of intellectual capacities
"The school provided special programs for students with mental backwardness";
- retardation [archaic], mental retardation [archaic], slowness, subnormality [archaic]
Type of: daftness [informal], feeblemindedness, stupidity
Encyclopedia: Backwardness