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-wards

 - 5 dictionary results

-wards

 
Use -wards in a Sentence
var. of -ward: towards; afterwards.
Origin:
ME; OE -weardes, equiv. to -weard toward (see ward ) + -es -s 1

Usage note:
See -ward.

-ward

 
a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element: toward; seaward; afterward; backward.
Also, -wards.

Origin:
ME; OE -weard towards; c. G -wärts; akin to L vertere to turn (see verse )

Usage note:
Both -ward and -wards occur in such words as backward, forward, upward, and toward. The -ward form is by far the more common in edited American English writing.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To -wards
-ward or -wards  
suff.  

    1. In a specified direction in time or space: downward.

    2. Toward a specified place or position: skyward.

    3. Occurring or situated in a specified direction: leftward.

    4. Having a direction toward a specified place or position: landward.

    1. Occurring or situated in a specified direction: leftward.

    2. Having a direction toward a specified place or position: landward.


[Middle English, from Old English -weard; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.]
-wards  
suff.  Variant of -ward.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

-ward 
adv. suffix expressing direction, O.E. -weard "toward," lit. "turned toward," sometimes -weardes, with genitive singular ending of neuter adjectives, from P.Gmc. *warth (cf. O.S., O.Fris. -ward, O.N. -verðr), variant of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). The original notion is of "turned toward."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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