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toward the back or rear.
with the back foremost.
in the reverse of the usual or right way:
counting backward from 100.
toward the past:
to look backward over one’s earlier mistakes.
toward a less advanced state; retrogressively:
since the overthrow of the president the country has moved steadily backward.
directed toward the back or past.
reversed; returning:
a backward movement; a backward journey.
behind in time or progress; late; slow:
a backward learner; a backward country.
bashful or hesitant; shy:
a backward lover.
backward and forward, thoroughly:
he knew his lesson backward and forward.
also, backwards and forwards.
contemporary examples

a palpable desolation—and the feeling of what the chinese call luohou, or backwardness—hangs in the air.
ghosts in the machine: the story of china’s rural migrants and their uncertain future ross perlin december 9, 2012

it gives you the sense of the forwardness of history as well as the backwardness.
archbishop pitches on youtube for more souls as he prepares to christen george tom sykes october 21, 2013

to some, this will look like progress, a move away from the backwardness of rural life.
tibet’s ticking time bomb kapil komireddi january 17, 2014

historical examples

but the true secret of their backwardness was to be sought for in the six-shooters, one of which i now held in each hand.
the bandolero mayne reid

no latsummes (backwardness, reluctance) was in him when once fully set.
in convent walls emily sarah holt

the one thing to criticize is the backwardness of the lives of the good folk of the isle and their enormous pieds plats.
the automobilist abroad m. f. (milburg francisco) mansfield

he scarcely shares my hopes, but he shows no signs of backwardness.
sir brook fossbrooke, volume ii. charles james lever

the prudent hesitation and backwardness of holland had at last yielded to the pressure of england.
a popular history of france from the earliest times francois pierre guillaume guizot

but we must recognize that their backwardness is not wholly due to prejudice.
introduction to the science of sociology robert e. park

though it is confessed, that there is more of the spirit, where there is no backwardness or resistance, or need of forcing.
a christian directory (part 2 of 4) richard baxter

adjective
(usually prenominal) directed towards the rear: a backward glance
r-t-rded in physical, material, or intellectual development: backward countries, a backward child

of or relating to the past; conservative or reactionary
(in combination): backward-looking

reluctant or bashful: a backward lover
(chess) (of a p-wn) behind neighbouring p-wns and unable to be supported by them
adverb
a variant of backwards
n.

1580s, from backward + -ness.
adv.

c.1300, from abakward, from old english on bæc (see back (adv.)) + -weard adjectival and adverbial suffix (see -ward). old english had the adverb bæcling. as an adjective, from 1550s. meaning “behindhand with regard to progress” is first attested 1690s. to ring bells backward (from lowest to highest), c.1500, was a signal of alarm for fire or invasion, or to express dismay. another middle english word for “backward, wrongly” was -rs-ward (c.1400).
in addition to the idiom beginning with
backward