Toward means in the direction of somebody or something. Facing that way, and moving that way.
American English usually writes it without an s and British English usually adds one, and neither is wrong on either side. It covers direction, time and attitude: walking toward the door, toward the end of the month, an attitude toward money. That third use is worth noting, since feelings are directed toward people. It also means as a contribution to, as in putting money toward a holiday.
1prepositiontowardIn the direction of something.~65%
“She walked toward the light.”
2prepositionrelationIn relation to, or as a contribution to.~35%
“They put the money toward a new roof.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 20 sentences found in the wild and placed 20 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: towards
Proto-West Germanic
*tōward
Old English
tōweard
Middle English
toward
English, today
toward
From Middle English toward, from Old English tōweard, from Proto-West Germanic tōward, equivalent to to + ward. Cognate with Middle Low German tôwart, Middle Dutch toewaert (Modern Dutch toewaarts), Middle High German zuowart, zūwart (Modern German zuwärts). Compare also Middle English tilward, tillward (“toward”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA