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downward - 4 dictionary results
Downward
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down⋅ward

  [doun-werd]
Use downward in a Sentence
–adverb
1. Also, downwards. from a higher to a lower place or condition.
2. down from a source or beginning: As the river flows downward, it widens.
3. from a past time, predecessor, or ancestor: The estate was handed downward from generation to generation.
–adjective
4. moving or tending to a lower place or condition.
5. descending from a source or beginning.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME dounward, aph. var. of adounward, OE adūnweard. See down 1 , -ward

Related forms:
down⋅ward⋅ly, adverb
down⋅ward⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To downward
down·ward   (doun'wərd)   
adv.   or down·wards (-wərdz)
  1. In, to, or toward a lower place, level, or position: floating downward.
  2. Toward a lower position in a hierarchy or on a socioeconomic scale: slid downward into poverty.
  3. Toward the feet or lower parts: clothed from the waist downward.
  4. Toward a lower amount, degree, or rank: stocks plummeted downward.
  5. From a prior source or earlier time: passed downward through the ages.
adj.  Directed toward a lower place or position: downward movement.
down'ward·ly adv.
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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Downward

Down"ward\, Downwards \Down"wards\, adv. [AS. ad?nweard. See Down, adv., and -ward.]

1. From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course; as, to tend, move, roll, look, or take root, downward or downwards. "Looking downwards." --Pope.

Their heads they downward bent. --Drayton.

2. From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin.

And downward fell into a groveling swine. --Milton.

3. From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line.

A ring the county wears, That downward hath descended in his house, From son to son, some four or five descents. --Shak.

Downward

Down"ward\, a. 1. Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous.

With downward force That drove the sand along he took his way. --Dryden.

2. Descending from a head, origin, or source; as, a downward line of descent.

3. Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected; as, downward thoughts. --Sir P. Sidney.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : downward
Spanish: descendente,
German: sich neigend,
Japanese: 下方への
More Translations »
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