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What is the difference between backward and retarded?

backward | retarded |

As adjectives the difference between backward and retarded

is that backward is pertaining to the direction towards the back while retarded is delayed; delayed in development, hindered; impeded.

As an adverb backward

is in the direction towards the back; backwards.

As a noun backward

is the state behind or past.

As a verb retarded is

past tense of retard.

backward

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (of motion) Pertaining to the direction towards the back.
  • They left without a backward glance.
  • (of motion) Pertaining to the direction reverse of normal.
  • The occasional backward movement of planets is evidence they revolve around the sun.
  • Reluctant or unable to advance.
  • * 1919 ,
  • Then her eyes, always alert for the affairs of her kitchen, fell on some action of the Chinese cook which aroused her violent disapproval. She turned on him with a torrent of abuse. The Chink was not backward to defend himself, and a very lively quarrel ensued.
  • * Don't be backward in suggesting story ideas to local media but always think of the wants, needs and desires of their readers when selling-in story ideas.[http://www.mortgagemagazine.com.au/detail_article.cfm?articleID=364]
  • Of a culture considered undeveloped or unsophisticated.
  • * Most cruelly, the immediate security interests of the United States and the states surrounding Somalia are now to keep it a failed state, to prevent Islamists from consolidating even a weak state centered on Mogadishu. The leader of the victorious faction, one Aden Hashi 'Ayro, is said to be a veteran of Afghanistan; he knows well what a small sanctuary in a backward corner of the globe can mean for al Qaeda. [http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1851044]
  • Pertaining to a thought or value that is considered outdated.
  • * Replace the morbid, bankrupting, backward idea of superpower domination: Weapons dismantled. Global warming reversed. Perhaps, in time, overpopulation, poverty, starvation, ignorance and disease all resolved. Thus, moral determination combined with 21st Century science, ecology and social initiatives will make possible a resonant fulfillment of our American Revolution [http://www.counterpunch.org/bice01042003.html]
  • (cricket) On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease.
  • (cricket) Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else.
  • (obsolete) Unwilling; averse; reluctant.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves.
  • Slow to apprehend; having difficulties in learning.
  • a backward child
  • Late or behindhand.
  • a backward season
  • (obsolete) Already past or gone; bygone.
  • * Byron
  • and flies unconscious o'er each backward year

    Synonyms

    * (in reverse direction) retrograde * (of an undeveloped culture) third world * backwards, fogyish, old-fashioned, antiquated, antediluvian, unprogressive, retrograde, outdated, parachronistic, out of date

    Antonyms

    * (of an undeveloped culture) forward * (of an outdated thought) progressive

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (of motion) In the direction towards the back; backwards
  • to walk or ride backward'''; to throw the arms '''backward
  • Toward, or in, past time or events; ago.
  • * John Locke
  • some reigns backward
  • By way of reflection; reflexively.
  • From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin.
  • * Dryden
  • The work went backward .

    Synonyms

    * backwards

    Antonyms

    * forward, forwards

    Noun

  • The state behind or past.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In the dark backward and abysm of time.

    Anagrams

    *

    retarded

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Delayed; delayed in development, hindered; impeded.
  • * 2004 , Duncan Mackay, The Observer , 8 Aug 2004:
  • HGH, which was originally developed to assist children with retarded growth, is believed to be especially popular with sprinters.
  • (chiefly, North America) Underdeveloped (of a person's intelligence, abilities etc.).
  • * 2000 , Kate Connolly, The Guardian , 19 Apr 2000:
  • The European Roma Rights Centre in Budapest, which is representing the children - from the north-eastern city of Ostrava - said that the education ministry and local authorities had for decades "perpetuated a system which routinely brands disproportionate numbers of Gypsies as mentally retarded ".
  • (colloquial, derogatory) Stupid, dumb.
  • * 1988 , Raymond E Feist, Faerie Tale :
  • Looking at Jack, Gabbie said, "What?" "That's the Troll Bridge." She groaned at the pun. "That's retarded ."
  • (physics) Designating a parameter of an electromagnetic field which is adjusted to account for the finite speed of radiation.
  • Verb

    (head)
  • (retard)