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Backwards vs Shy - What's the difference?

backwards | shy |

As adjectives the difference between backwards and shy

is that backwards is oriented toward the back while shy is easily frightened; timid.

As an adverb backwards

is toward the back.

As a verb shy is

to avoid due to timidness or caution.

As a noun shy is

an act of throwing.

backwards

English

Alternative forms

* backward

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Oriented toward the back.
    • The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement .
  • Reversed.
    • The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.
  • (derogatory) Behind current trends or technology.
    • Modern medicine regards the use of leeches as a backwards practice.
  • Clumsy, inept, or inefficient.
    • He was a very backwards scholar, but he was a marvel on the football field.

    Usage notes

    * In senses 3 and 4, and often in American English, backward is preferred.

    Synonyms

    * (oriented toward the back) * (reversed) mirror image, switched, back to front * (behind current trends or technology) crude, dated, obsolete, primitive * awkward, fumbling, incompetent, poor

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Toward the back.
    • The cabinet toppled over backwards .
    Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards . —Søren Kierkegaard
  • In the opposite direction to usual.
    • The clock did not work because the battery was inserted backwards .
  • In a manner such that the back precedes the front.
    • The tour guide walked backwards while droning on to the bored seniors.

    Usage notes

    * In written American English, backward is more common. * Strictly speaking, backwards'' is an adverb and ''backward is an adjective in British English; in American English, the rule may be reversed. This follows the same usage for similar words ending in -ward/-wards and -way/-ways. See also -wise. *: It was a backward move'' vs ''He moved backwards * Also, even though an adverb may be used in adjectival combinations (eg a quickly moving car ), only the -ward forms are commonly used in adjectival combinations, e.g.: *: A backward-facing statue. / A backward facing statue.

    Synonyms

    * (toward the back) hindwards, rearward, retrograde * (in the opposite direction of usual) contrariwise, reversedly * (so that the back precedes the front) back to front, in reverse

    Derived terms

    * backwards and forwards

    Anagrams

    *

    shy

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Easily frightened; timid.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • The horses of the army were no longer shy , but would come up to my very feet without starting.
  • Reserved; disinclined to familiar approach.
    • He is very shy with strangers.
  • * Arbuthnot
    • What makes you so shy , my good friend? There's nobody loves you better than I.
  • Cautious; wary; suspicious.
  • * Boyle
    • I am very shy of using corrosive liquors in the preparation of medicines.
  • * Sir H. Wotton
    • Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of their successors.
  • Short, insufficient or less than.
    • By our count your shipment came up two shy of the bill of lading amount.
    It is just shy of a mile from here to their house.
  • Embarrassed.

    • See also

    * bashful * reserved * timid * demure * coy

    Usage notes

    * Often used in combination with a noun to produce an adjective or adjectival phrase. * Adjectives are usually applicable to animals (leash-shy'' "shy of leashes" or ''head shy "shy of contact around the head" (of horses)) or to children.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * brazen * bold * audacious

    Derived terms

    (terms derived using shy as suffix) * -shy * bird-shy * boy-shy * car-shy * cat-shy * camera-shy * cover-shy * girl-shy * gun-shy * hand-shy * man-shy * mouse-shy * noise-shy * people-shy * water-shy * woman-shy * work-shy

    Verb

  • To avoid due to timidness or caution.
    • I shy away from investment opportunities I don't understand.
  • To jump back in fear.
    • The horse shied''' away from the rider, which startled him so much he '''shied away from the horse.
  • to throw sideways with a jerk; to fling
    • to shy''' a stone; to '''shy a slipper

    Noun

    (shies)
  • An act of throwing.
    • (Thackeray)
  • * Punch
    • If Lord Brougham gets a stone in his hand, he must, it seems, have a shy at somebody.
  • * 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 55:
    • The game had started. A man was chasing the ball, it went out for a shy .
  • A place for throwing.
    • coconut shy
  • A sudden start aside, as by a horse.
  • In the Eton College wall game, a point scored by lifting the ball against the wall in the calx.

    • Derived terms

    * coconut shy