How to Use backward in a Sentence

backward

1 of 3 adverb

• She took a small step backward.
• I heard a noise behind me and glanced backward.
• He pushed the throttle backward.
• The narrative moves backward and forward in time.
• Work backward through the process of getting to that point.
  — Peter Boolkah, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023
• One day the car rolled backward down their street for a full block.
  — Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
• The sedan rolls backward out of the frame and the footage doesn’t capture where the three shooters go.
  — Austindedios, oregonlive, 28 Mar. 2023
• This means Earth shifts backward, and our view changes as the years pass.
  — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024
• Reynolds punched Malone in the face, sending him backward and to the ground.
  — Nick Ferraro, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2024
• At the front of the hood, the six-inch strands stand straight up before the rows start streaming backward.
  — Michael Teo Van Runkle, Ars Technica, 26 Oct. 2023
• The stunt was he’s getting shot, he gets propelled backward, hits the bar, and hits the ground.
  — Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2024
• As the race crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, gusts of wind blew Parra backward.
  — Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 25 July 2023
• McKenzie Forbes threw the ball with two hands backward over her head.
  — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
• With Roo, her pet for the last six years, there’s no bending over backward.
  — Tammy Lagorce, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2023
• At the scene, deputies determined that Kessler fell backward and struck his head on the ground.
  — Julie Sharp, CBS News, 7 Nov. 2023
• Bruce Pearl knows his team has helped itself but doesn’t want to take a step backward.
  — Mark Heim | [e-mail], al, 9 Mar. 2023
• The handle, which also has classy stitched edges, swivels backward out of view when not in use.
  — PCMAG, 17 Sep. 2023
• William placed his tribute, took a few steps backward and made a salute with his white-gloved hand.
  — Simon Perry, Peoplemag, 12 Nov. 2023
• His client was seen on video of the raid escorted out, forced to walk backward with his hands on his head.
  — Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 4 Apr. 2024
• The deputy fired a stun gun at Cure and a fight ensued, with Cure grabbing the deputy by the neck and pushing his head backward, the video shows.
  — Char Adams, NBC News, 27 Feb. 2024
• Then, reverse the movement to step backward and return to start.
  — Jennifer Nied, Women's Health, 17 May 2023
• Or, instead of decades, maybe we had all been shoved a dozen centuries backward.
  — Chris Richards, Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2023
• What had been a robust running game took a big step backward.
  — Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2023
• The planet appears to be upside-down and spins backward.
  — Dean Regas, The Enquirer, 24 May 2023
• In one shot, a sailor opens his pants to reveal a firework, then leans backward as sparks fly into the air.
  — Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 24 May 2023
• Keep back flat and hips level and take three steps forward, then three steps backward.
  — Andi Breitowich, Women's Health, 9 Mar. 2023
• From that target date, work backward on a timeline that will slowly build to that goal in time.
  — Rolling Stone Culture Council, Rolling Stone, 26 Jan. 2024
• The spinning truck tires began losing traction and the truck started to slide backward, the CHP said.
  — Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2024
• Brebbia went up and in on Fernando Tatis, who toppled backward out of the way.
  — Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Apr. 2023
• Half the seats face forward and half backward, with small tables where the center rows meet to face each other.
  — Lilit Marcus, CNN, 30 Mar. 2023

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backward

2 of 3 adjective

• In all, the Chargers’ sacks pushed the Jets backward 57 yards.
  — Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023
• Travis Scott has his line of Nikes with a backward swoosh.
  — Glenn Gamboa, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Aug. 2023
• The first was a backward pass that got ruled as a 15-yard carry.
  — Steve Megargee, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Sep. 2022
• And Tom had drawn a girl with a backward cap on a skateboard.
  — Christi Carras, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2022
• Pat’s in the Flats was a safe haven for the backward washouts to make their mark creatively.
  — Annie Nickoloff, cleveland, 16 June 2022
• Watt wore cuffed skinny jeans, a black T-shirt, and a backward ball cap.
  — WIRED, 17 Oct. 2023
• The new chips button appears to show up next to the forward and backward arrows at the top of the inbox.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 16 Aug. 2022
• Through shattered glass The killer wore a red ball cap, backward, and glasses.
  — Keith Sharon, USA TODAY, 3 Apr. 2023
• Then Tony falls, does a few backward flips down a cliff, and knocks himself dead on the biggest rock of all.
  — Darren Franich, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2022
• Stennis took a backward pass from Dante Moore and brought it to the end zone — credited as a 9-yard run.
  — Wright Wilson, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2022
• The chair turns around 360 degrees and smoothly glides forward and backward to rock the baby to sleep.
  — Casey Seiden, Parents, 11 July 2023
• Toto did all the percussion in L.A. here, and Steve Lukather did some of the guitar backward sounds.
  — Max Evry, Pitchfork, 13 Oct. 2023
• The Hall of Fame’s job is to look backward and honor past performance.
  — Fay Vincent, WSJ, 28 Jan. 2022
• Davidson — out for a stroll, in a backward cap and T-shirt — was asked to rate his hockey knowledge on a 1-to-10 scale.
  — Matt Porter, BostonGlobe.com, 1 July 2023
• The mosh pit at the front had become too much and everyone needed to take three steps backward.
  — Doug George, Chicago Tribune, 17 Sep. 2022
• And point guard Reggie Jackson, sitting along the baseline in a sweater and backward cap.
  — Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2022
• The Bengals and Williams are looking forward now, not backward.
  — The Enquirer, 1 Aug. 2023
• But at high tide, the creek flows upstream, as if backward, and broadens into a brackish pond.
  — Walter Nicklin, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2022
• For Orchard to return it back to the academic researchers was a backward move.
  — Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, 27 Apr. 2023
• Nicole loves to see Brooklyn in a backward hat, a tattoo-revealing sweatshirt, and a pair of jeans.
  — Madeline Fass, Vogue, 18 Jan. 2023
• Items on backward hangers for a few months can be donated or sold.
  — Maryal Miller Carter, USA TODAY, 18 Aug. 2023
• Louie wore a black maxi dress while Harrelson sported white pants, a blue shirt and a backward baseball cap.
  — Emma Kershaw, Peoplemag, 27 Feb. 2023
• The presence of bangs and bowl cuts, sweater vests and backward caps will have anyone feeling nostalgic.
  — Emma Balter, Chron, 5 Oct. 2022
• Perhaps the mother perceives that said kid wants to run the show, or that kid thinks the mother's country is somehow backward.
  — Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
• Paul Atreides, after all, is the only man in the Dune universe with the ability to see forward and backward in time.
  — EW.com, 20 Feb. 2024
• Nolan walked around after the game wearing a backward hat and seemingly in good spirits.
  — oregonlive, 1 Oct. 2022
• There’s also a trippy backward launch, a first for a Disney coaster.
  — Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 5 May 2022
• Sit up and tilt your head forward with your chin down so the blood runs forward onto the tissue, rather than backward into your throat.
  — Beth Krietsch, SELF, 15 Nov. 2023
• The assailant, who is seen wearing a backward baseball hat and a dark T-shirt, quickly walked away from the victims after the attack.
  — Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2023
• Kenworthy landed his first trick of that run switch, or backward, but caught an edge of his ski and fell, hitting his head on the flat bottom.
  — Rachel Axon, USA TODAY, 17 Feb. 2022

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backward

3 of 3 noun

• Step one leg backward, and move the knee downward in a lunge.
  — NBC News, 7 June 2019
• In the end, wearing bras for a week felt like a step backward for me.
  — Rachel Charlene Lewis, SELF, 31 Mar. 2018
• The cousin was still holding King's hat and put it on backwards.
  — Elvia Malagon, chicagotribune.com, 17 May 2017
• The force of the collision shoved the Neon backward into the guard rail on the east shoulder of Highway 99.
  — Cathy Locke, sacbee.com, 18 May 2017
• McKenzie threw one backward over his head for a 15-yard loss.
  — Chris Hays, OrlandoSentinel.com, 22 Sep. 2017
• Now, Accept does it, the movement is more all in the hips, but Accept is forward on the one and backward on the two.
  — Matt Wake | [e-mail], al, 1 Apr. 2020
• Stocks notched a rare-for-this-year backward slip as new storm clouds gathered over the Capitol.
  — Tory Newmyer, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2018
• In one motion Oladipo leaps backward and then rises for a 3-pointer that ties the score and silences the crowd.
  — Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Star, 29 Apr. 2018
• Among the reminders: Things like standing up on a sled or hurtling down a hill backward are not allowed.
  — Julie Bosman, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2020
• Indeed, the problem was that somebody was a bit too hasty readying the saw that morning and had put the saw chain on the bar backward.
  — Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 8 Nov. 2018
• There are 10 days in February where the date reads the same backward and forwards, but Tuesday’s date is twice as nice.
  — Joseph De Avila, WSJ, 22 Feb. 2022
• Sunday was a step or two backwards, and even these Rangers can't keep sending that out every fifth day.
  — Jeff Wilson, star-telegram, 13 June 2018
• The first back-heel came at an inconsequential moment in the 30th minute, when Mbappé leapt in the air and sent a pass backward.
  — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 10 July 2018
• Both wore a white baseball hat, Anderson with the brim in front, Isner with his turned his backward.
  — Howard Fendrich, BostonGlobe.com, 13 July 2018
• The video shows Silbaugh sitting in the street when the officer approaches her and kicks her in the shoulder to knock her backward.
  — Kevin Flowers and Madeleine O'Neill, USA TODAY, 16 June 2020
• The move involves bringing one leg backward, which mimics the movement of a reverse lunge.
  — Jenny McCoy, SELF, 22 Aug. 2018
• To dust off your memory from English class, a palindrome is a word spelled the same backward as forward.
  — Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, 24 June 2020
• Callay!—in 1900 engineers made the river flush backward so now all our turds float to Saint Louis—unless there's heavy rain.
  — Brad Einstein, Chicago Reader, 20 Dec. 2017
• To execute these squats, place a bar across your shoulder blades, bend your knees, and squat backward into your heels.
  — Julia Naftulin, Health.com, 30 June 2017
• The final product is a light with two LEDs, one facing forward and one facing backward.
  — Madeline St. Amour, The Denver Post, 11 Aug. 2019
• No one beats Kimpton Hotels’ bend-over-backward welcome to pets.
  — Pamela Wright, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Jan. 2021
• Gase finished talking to the media and, hat on backwards, sat at a locker between Moore and Ryan Tannehill.
  — Dave Hyde, Sun-Sentinel.com, 22 Oct. 2017
• The shirt itself is a kind of dusty cream, made from Japanese cotton, and all the e’s are facing backward, almost as a challenge.
  — Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 5 June 2019
• Bending over with his hands over his head and throwing the football backward between his legs put a lot of pressure on Shannon’s back.
  — Tyler James, Indianapolis Star, 6 May 2020
• Bo Nix spiked a snap backward, and it was ruled intentional grounding rather than a fumble.
  — Mark Heim | [e-mail], al, 16 Oct. 2021
• Then a fall, backward onto a large chunk of granite, cracked a rib and exacerbated the nerve issues.
  — Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Aug. 2019
• Kirra allowed her mind to flash backward, only for a moment.
  — David Canfield, EW.com, 29 Jan. 2020
• Bending at the waist, raise your left leg backward and lower your torso forward until both are parallel to the floor.
  — Christine Yu, Outside Online, 10 Apr. 2018
• Midway through the first quarter, Middleton wound over a Lopez screen toward the paint then smoothly switched the ball from his left hand to his right to bounce a pass backward to Lopez for a three-pointer.
  — Matt Velazquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 28 Dec. 2019
• Each feint elicits a response, maybe a defensive parry or a hop backward.
  — David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2021

Last Updated: 7 May 2024