Advertisement
Advertisement
-wards
- variant of -ward:
towards; afterwards.
-wards
suffix forming adverbs
- indicating direction towards Compare -ward
to sail shorewards
a step backwards
Spelling Note
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of -wards1
Example Sentences
On medical wards, things can take turns and you still have to figure out how to help right things.
As of 28 October 2024, the Northern Trust had 10 patients in adult mental health wards who have been deemed medically fit for discharge and require a residential placement option.
The South Eastern Trust said there were two patients in adult mental health wards deemed fit for discharge - one had been waiting 16 days, the other four months.
Ms Devlin believes that her members are “holding up a broken health service” dealing with “overcrowded” wards and emergency departments.
Cases where babies have been accidentally swapped on maternity wards are practically unheard of in the UK.
Advertisement
Words That Use -wards
What does -wards mean?
The suffix –wards is used to mean “in the direction of,” either in time or space. It is often used in everyday and technical terms.
The form –wards comes from Old English –weardes, meaning “towards.”
What are variants of –wards?
The suffix –wards is more common in British English. In North American English, the variant –ward, as in toward, is more commonly used. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article on –ward.
Examples of -wards
One example of a word that features the suffix –wards is downwards, or downward, “from a higher to a lower place, level, etc.”
The first part of the word indicates the direction. In this case, down– means “from higher to lower.” The suffix –wards means “toward” or “in the direction of.” Downwards literally means “in the down direction.”
What are some words that use the equivalent of the combining form –wards in Middle or Old English?
What are some other forms that –wards may be commonly confused with?
Not every word that ends with the exact letters –ward or –wards, such as reward or coward, is necessarily using the combining form –ward to denote “direction.” Learn why coward means “lacking courage” at our entry for the word.
Break it down!
Given the meaning of the suffix –wards, what does upwards literally mean?
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse