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Glite Dictionary
to look backward

to look backward

3 2.0
Turn your head or eyes to see what is behind you
  • phrasal verb
  • /lʊk ˈbæk.wɚd/
translation icon : mirar hacia atrás
  • Before crossing the street, she always looked backward to ensure it was safe.
  • look backward and forward

I turn around and he's looking backwards and he's pointing down the hill where we had come.

Examples

  • He had to look backward to see who was following him on the dark street.

  • When driving, it is important to look backward to check for other vehicles before changing lanes.

  • So this is just, we're looking backwards now.

  • Start looking backwards all the time.

  • Therefore, the wolf must turn round about when he looks backwards.

    Academic text (1996)

  • It's not always a good idea for an artist to look backward.

    Blog text (26)

  • I was never to look backward.

    Academic text (1993)

  • A danger of the turn became apparent when she looked backward.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • "I'm tired of looking backward," Marshall can hear himself saying.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • What the courts do really well is look backwards and reconstruct the realities of what happened.

Synonyms

to turn around
vsto look backward
384 2.0

To move your body to face the opposite direction or change your attitude

is only a small head or eye movement not a full rotation
to look back
vsto look backward
75 1.4

Turn your head or eyes to see behind you

is the same action but emphasizes only slight head or eye movement
to turn to look
vsto look backward
33 1.0

To move your body so you can see someone or something

is about moving only head or eyes not the whole body

How Far

to turn around
384 2.0
to look backward
3 2.0

Surface Forms

look backward infinitive
looked backward past
looked backward past participle
looking backward present participle
looks backward third person singular

Morphology

look + backward

The meaning 'to turn your head or eyes to see what is behind you' is directly and compositionally derived from 'look' (to direct one's eyes) plus 'backward' (toward the rear). This verb + directional adverb pattern is a common, cross-linguistic construction in English and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Look backward comes from the simple image of look and backward: you turn your eyes or head to see what is behind you. So it means 'to turn your head or eyes to see what is behind you'.