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Backyard vs Backwards - What's the difference?

backyard | backwards |

As a noun backyard

is a yard to the rear of a house or similar residence.

As an adjective backwards is

oriented toward the back.

As an adverb backwards is

toward the back.

backyard

English

Alternative forms

* back-yard, back yard

Noun

(en noun)
  • A yard to the rear of a house or similar residence.
  • (colloquial) A person's neighborhood, or an area nearby to a person's usual residence or place of work and where the person is likely to go.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2005
    • , author=Christopher Kennedy Lawford , title=Symptoms of withdrawal: a memoir of snapshots and redemption , page=18 citation , isbn=0060732482, 9780060732486 , passage=The entire beach was my backyard , from the Hiltons' house in the south all the way to Steele Hunter's house in the north.}}
  • (colloquial) An area nearby to a country or other jurisidiction's legal boundaries, particularly an area in which the country feels it has an interest.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1942
    • , year_published= , author=Wilfrid Hardy Callcott , title=The Caribbean policy of the United States, 1890-1920 , page=343 citation , passage=However, the region was in the United States backyard and Britain should look passively on with acquiescence in whatever policy the United States saw fit to pursue about Mexico.}}

    Related terms

    * front yard

    Usage notes

    Note that backyard'' is usually written as a single word, while ''front yard is always written as two words.

    Derived terms

    * backyard cricket * not in my backyard (NIMBY)

    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

    *