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↩️ To the rear ⏪ To the past 🌍 Less developed 👀 Facing the rear 😶 Shy or reserved
backward

backward

29 3.5
Less developed than other places, especially in education or the economy
  • adjective
  • /ˈbæk.wɚd/
translation icon : atrasado
  • Africa is a strange and backward continent.
  • economically backward
  • backward regions
  • technologically backward

It's it's just a terrible backward retail system in China.

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Examples

  • This is the most backward village in the whole lot.

    The Left Hand of God (1955)

  • It's it's just a terrible backward retail system in China.

    Evan Carmichael

  • Liberia, probably the most backward country on earth after a hundred years of independence.

    Academic text (2017)

  • While Syria is a model of political stability, it remains weakened and backward, frozen in economic and social development.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Until 1970, the Sultanate of Oman was one of the world's most reclusive and backward states.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Palestine was one of the poorest, most backward, and most ramshackle provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Many residents in the town believe that their backward educational system is holding back progress.

  • Despite its natural resources, the region remains economically backward compared to its neighbors.

  • The report highlighted that some countries still have outdated infrastructure and backward social policies.

Synonyms

regressive
vsbackward
5 7.5

A return to an earlier, less advanced state that stops progress

describes being less developed than normally expected and not actively opposing progress
retrogressive
vsbackward
  • Formal
1 8.3

A change that makes things go back to a worse state

describes being behind in development rather than an active decline
retrograde
vsbackward
1 7.8

Becoming worse and returning to an earlier state

describes being less developed compared with normal expectations rather than decline

Antonyms

progressive
52 4.9

Happening slowly over time and becoming more serious

advancing
3.4

Moving forward or making progress slowly and steadily

Idioms

going backward
1 3.7

Moving back to an earlier state instead of making progress

Compounds

backward glance
2 3.5

A quick look over the shoulder at something behind you

reasoning backward
7.4

To start with the end and find steps to reach it

How Developed

advanced
379 4.0
developed
14 2.7
backward
29 3.5
primitive
183 5.1

Surface Forms

backward positive
backwards positive

Morphology

backward = back (semi-transparent) = back + ward

Formally derived from 'back' + '-ward', but the socio-economic sense 'less developed' is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable from the parts alone.

Etymology

Backward comes from back + -ward, where back meant 'behind' or 'at the back', and people began to use it for places that were 'behind' in change or progress. That's why we call a region or sector 'backward' when it is less developed.