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.
Two of them — 6-2 froward Autumn Newby from Baylor and 5-6 guard Alexis Morris from Texas A&M — are starters.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 25, 2022
“Before we were stepping froward, now we’re stepping back,” a supporter named Katherine King told me.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 9, 2016
"What a froward, drivelling flibbergib have I taken to my bosom!"
From Time Magazine Archive
The biography of Moreton Frewen, Winston Churchill's froward uncle and a born loser who went from one financial debacle to another with style, imagination and diligence.
From Time Magazine Archive
Carry your self discreetly, it concerns me, The Duke's come in, none of your froward passions, Nor no distasts to any: Prethee Theodor, By my life, boy, 'twill ruine me.
From Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (3 of 10): The Loyal Subject by Beaumont, Francis
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.
