rearwards C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈrɪrwɚdz/ UK /ˈrɪəwədz/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adv toward the back or rear The soldiers slowly retreated rearwards. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adv · toward the back or rear backwardbackwardsrearwardaft ↔ Opposites forwardforwardsfrontward Word family Related forms rearrearward Etymology AI details From rearward + adverbial -s; rear from Old French rere ('behind'), from Latin retro ('back'), with the Old English directional suffix -weard. retro Latin -weard Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # rearwards **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adv **IPA (US):** /ˈrɪrwɚdz/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈrɪəwədz/ ## Meanings 1. toward the back or rear ## Examples - The soldiers slowly retreated rearwards. ## Synonyms - backward - backwards - rearward - aft ## Antonyms - forward - forwards - frontward ## Related Forms - rear - rearward ## Roots and Affixes - Root: retro - Root: -weard ## Etymology From rearward + adverbial -s; rear from Old French rere ('behind'), from Latin retro ('back'), with the Old English directional suffix -weard. ## AI Etymology Rearwards comes from rearward + adverbial -s; rear from Old French rere ('behind'), from Latin retro ('back'), with the Old English directional suffix -weard. The historical chain includes Latin retro and Old English -weard. The quoted older senses, "behind" and "back", supply the semantic anchors for rearwards. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word rearwards carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adv, "toward the back or rear". Related English forms include rear and rearward. The result is a adv whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Describing Qualities markdown