Definify.com
Definition 2024
-ward
-ward
English
Suffix
-ward
- Forming adverbs denoting course or direction to, or motion or tendency toward, as in "backward", "toward", "forward", etc.
- Forming adjectives, as in "a backward look", "the northward road", etc; used even by speakers who usually use -wards for adverbs.
Derived terms
<a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_words_suffixed_with_-ward'>English words suffixed with -ward</a>
Usage notes
- The choice between -ward and -wards is individual or dialectal; both are widely used.
- Adverbs ending in -wards (Anglo-Saxon -weardes) and some other adverbs, such as besides, betimes, since Old English sithens, etc., originated as genitive forms used adverbially.
- The adjectives toward (initial stress) and forward have meanings not predictable from the meaning of -ward.
- Awkward has retained the form but lost much of the sense in its use of this suffix.
Translations
forming adverbs