First recorded in 1150–1200, froward is from the Middle English word froward, fraward. See fro, -ward
Froward means willful and disobedient. If your dog sits when you call her to come and runs away when you tell her to sit, you can say she's froward. The adverb froward is an old-fashioned way to describe someone who's difficult and ornery. It's a lot more fun to babysit agreeable kids than froward ones. New teachers have nightmares about classes full of froward students and are relieved to find pleasant and polite ones on the first day of school. The Old English root of froward is frāward, "turning away from," or the opposite of toward.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Froward reform is almost as pernicious as selfish conservatism.
From Lincoln, the Politician by Levy, T. Aaron
That, said my father, I never should have, for that he would never consent to my marrying anybody but Lady Clara Froward.
From Forgotten Tales of Long Ago by Bedford, F. D.
From this point, several ineffectual attempts were made to advance; but we were driven back as soon as we cleared Cape Froward, and obliged to retreat to our anchorage.
From The Captive in Patagonia by Bourne, Benjamin Franklin
The other boats sail more closely to the wind, and I hope by this time they are well on to Froward Reach, and round the corner.”
From Wild Life in the Land of the Giants A Tale of Two Brothers by Stables, Gordon
It is at Cape Froward that the American continent actually terminates, for Cape Horn is nothing but a rock sunk in the sea in latitude 52 degrees.
From In Search of the Castaways; or the Children of Captain Grant by Verne, Jules
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
