From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbackwardback‧ward /ˈbækwəd $ -wərd/ ●●○ adjective 1 [only before noun]BACK/BACKWARDS looking or facing in the direction that is behind you OPP forward She went without a backward glance.2 PROGRESSdeveloping slowly and less successfully than most others a backward country a backward child —backwardness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
backward• The people there are a little bit backward.• It's one of the more backward countries.• With barely a backward glance, I was on my way to freedom.• a backward look• Was it universally backward or were there variations between different sectors and branches of industry?• If our political economy remains backward, our intellectual economy has leaped ahead.• But instances like the Primitives get rarer and already one feels ashamed for indulging such backward passions.• That backward path is the foundation of Western, linear logic.• That will have been the aim and meaning of his entire backward quest.• For instance, stomach muscles propel the motion on forward and backward rolls.• New policies on developing the backward western provinces and improving health, education and social welfare are stressed. 