downward

UK/ˈdaʊnwəd/US/ˈdaʊnwɚd/

adjectiveB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,728 of 15,258leans written

Downward means moving or facing towards a lower place. A downward slope, downward trend, downward pressure.

The figurative uses are the commoner ones in writing: a downward trend, a downward revision, a downward spiral. Downward and downwards are both correct — the adjective is always downward, and the adverb takes either, with the s more usual in Britain. Note upward, which works the same way.

Definitions of downward

1adjectivedownwardMoving or facing towards a lower place.B1+
“The path took a steep downward turn towards the river.”

downward is a direction.

Where it comes from

Middle English
doun
English
down
English, today
downward

Built from

doune · Middle English — down
adūne · Old English — down, downward
ofdūne · Old English — down (literally “off the hill”)
of · Old English — of, off of

From down + -ward. down comes from Middle English doun. From Middle English doun, doune (“down”), from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”) literally “off the hill”, from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare dene, dāle, whence dal. Compare also stq, del. Cognate with Scots doon (“down”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

Practise this word

downward in the wild

A downward directed set is defined symmetrically, meaning that every finite subset has a lower bound.
Directed set
Other authors call a set directed if and only if it is directed both upward and downward.
Directed set
Females will signal their interest by erecting their tails while simultaneously arching their backs downward.
Acouchi
The movement can be in a downward or upward direction.
Social mobility
As the mainsheet is loosened to increase the horizontal angle of the boom and sail, the mainsheet becomes horizontal and exerts less downward force.
Boom vang

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the doune family

down

downward — used about once every 2,837 pages · #7,728 · point at the bar for the others

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