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backswept

American  
[bak-swept] / ˈbækˌswɛpt /

adjective

  1. slanting backward or away from the front.

  2. Aeronautics. sweptback.


backswept British  
/ ˈbækˌswɛpt /

adjective

  1. slanting backwards

  2. another word for sweptback

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of backswept

First recorded in 1915–20; back 2 + swept


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Some images show her playing boss, her hair backswept, wearing items including a black leather trench coat and a scoop neck midi dress.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2024

When you hear the air curdling, you don’t know at first if it’s wind or an 18-wheeler pushing down Interstate 10, and then there’s a roar, and backswept wings appear and disappear above you.

From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2018

Maybe it was fate: with his rough-hewn features and leonine fall of backswept hair, Gold’s profile bears an uncanny resemblance to the man, Benjamin Franklin, depicted on the medal itself.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 24, 2018

The flowery plain was scattered with caribou antlers: the delicate backswept branching antlers of female caribou, the sturdier antlers of male caribou, sometimes with mosses growing on the older ones.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 27, 2015

An omnivorous or herbivorous lifestyle is also in line with the widened, backswept pubic bones of Balaur: these imply larger guts and a broader, heavier body not especially suited for speedy, predatory behaviour.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 20, 2015

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