backward-looking

adjective

disapproving
: relating to the past : old-fashioned
backward-looking ideas/plans

Examples of backward-looking in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web That’s above the S&P 500’s average forward P/E ratio of 20, but definitely not as outlandish as the backward-looking figure. Will Daniel, Fortune, 22 Nov. 2023 The Trump Organization is accused of using forward-looking income figures, which were higher, combined with backward-looking expense figures, which were lower, resulting in an inflation of at least $37 million, according to the lawsuit. Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2023 At issue in an expanding worker strike against major U.S.-based automakers are two visions of the future: one forward-looking that emphasizes innovation, one backward-looking that emphasizes fairness. Laurent Belsie, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Sep. 2023 Remember, most of the data, like the retail sales, is backward-looking. Isabelle Lee, Fortune, 15 Sep. 2023 That will be more important than backward-looking earnings results in determining whether this year’s rally can continue, and whether the economy is headed for a downturn. Krystal Hur, CNN, 13 July 2023 Politics simply protects parochial and backward-looking interest groups and opinions. Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023 Mukherjee: The canon’s necessarily backward-looking because some time must have passed for a book to have made it in. June Thomas, New York Times, 16 June 2023 Inflation The Fed is also glued to the backward-looking Y/Y rate of inflation instead of concentrating on current and forward looking data. Robert Barone, Forbes, 6 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'backward-looking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near backward-looking

Cite this Entry

“Backward-looking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backward-looking. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on backward-looking

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!