backwards and forwards
7
3.2
- idiom
- /ˈbæk.wɚdz ənd ˈfɔːr.wɚdz/
- UK
:
de un lado a otro
- Learn them backwards and forwards.
- know it backwards and forwards
- go backwards and forwards
- move backwards and forwards
A palindrome has to be the same backwards and forwards like this.
- A palindrome has to be the same backwards and forwards like this.
- And this went backwards and forwards as if it were a tennis match, right?
- It's changed now I think because they don't go backwards and forwards to Hereford, they're much closer.
- So you, you go backwards and forwards between them.
- So there was a lot of that going backwards and forwards, you know, back and forth.
- Lots of negotiations backwards and forwards.
- Born, born in the US has it we've we've where it's flying backwards and forwards with the CIA and all that to America.
- It's intellectual shifts in perspective and growth and going backwards and forwards.
Examples
-
A good salesman knows his product backwards and forwards.
Blog text (25) -
I have one in each hand, moving them backwards and forwards until they touch.
Blog text (17) -
And from there you keep looking backwards and forwards and then draw your line.
-
So you, you go backwards and forwards between them.
-
I know everything backwards and forwards.
-
Those two are going backwards and forwards like they always have done.
Fiction book (1990) -
So there was a lot of that going backwards and forwards, you know, back and forth.
-
So just do little backwards and forwards rather than try and do the whole thing in one sweep.
-
We can stomp rapidly backwards and forwards.
Blog text (8) -
I rehearsed my speech backwards and forwards to make sure I wouldn't forget any part of it.
Synonyms
374
2.0
Moving one way and then the other again and again
8
3.4
Moving back and forth between two places
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ‘in both directions’ is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'backwards' (toward the rear) and 'forwards' (toward the front) with 'and' indicating both directions. This straightforward adverbial coordination is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase backwards and forwards comes from a simple picture of moving first backwards and then forwards, like a child on a swing or someone pacing while worried. So it means 'in both directions' or 'again and again', whether you talk about movement, a discussion, or repeated action.