Sideways vs Backwards - What's the difference?
sideways | backwards |
*2002 , Joseph Brodsky, ?Cynthia L. Haven, Joseph Brodsky: Conversations , page 169:
*2006 , David Haskell, Roundabout the USA , page 103:
*2013 , Pitou van Dijck, The Impact of the IIRSA Road Infrastructure Programme on Amazonia , page 81:
Moving or directed toward one side.
(informal) Positioned]] [[#Adverb, sideways (with a side to the front).
(informal) Neither moving upward nor moving downward.
(chiefly, US, colloquial) Not as planned; towards a worse outcome.
* {{quote-book
, year=2011
, author=D P Lyle
, title=Hot Lights, Cold Steel
, chapter=78
, page=PT340
In conflict (with); not compatible (with).
With a side to the front.
:
Towards one side.
:
*
*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways , as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
Askance; sidelong.
(lb) Neither upward nor downward.
:
Oriented toward the back.
Reversed.
(derogatory) Behind current trends or technology.
Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.
Toward the back.
In the opposite direction to usual.
In a manner such that the back precedes the front.
As adjectives the difference between sideways and backwards
is that sideways is moving or directed toward one side while backwards is oriented toward the back.As adverbs the difference between sideways and backwards
is that sideways is with a side to the front while backwards is toward the back.As a noun sideways
is plural of lang=en.sideways
English
Noun
(head)- And he was just taking byways and sideways , travelling in the peripheries of civilization, yeah?
- In time our way merged into a throng of cars flowing here and there on the highways and sideways of the north side of Los Angeles.
- Expansion of economic activities resulted in the construction of a so—called fishbone pattern of roads and sideways .
Adjective
(en adjective)- Giving Mary a sideways glance, he said,.
- He gave the ball a sideways kick.
- There was a stack of papers in front of each seat at the table, but each stack was sideways .
- Once we get out of this sideways economy, our figures will more accurately reflect what we're truly capable of.
- We realized the project could go sideways very quickly if we didn't get the sales and marketing people on our side.
citation, isbn=160542191X , passage=As we walked deeper into the darkness, we both knew this could go sideways in a heartbeat. We were sitting ducks. Birds on a wire. Canaries in a coalmine. }}
- He was constantly getting sideways with his boss till he got fired.
Adverb
Anagrams
*backwards
English
Alternative forms
* backwardAdjective
(en adjective)- The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement .
- The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.
- Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.
- He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.
Usage notes
* In senses 3 and 4, and often in American English, backward is preferred.Synonyms
* (oriented toward the back) * (reversed) mirror image, switched, back to front * (behind current trends or technology) crude, dated, obsolete, primitive * awkward, fumbling, incompetent, poorAdverb
(en adverb)- The cabinet toppled over backwards .
- Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards . —Søren Kierkegaard
- The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards .
- The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.