backward and forward
Idioms-
Also, backwards and forwards.
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Same as back and forth .
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Thoroughly, completely, as in He read the speech over and over, until he knew it backwards and forwards . [Late 1500s]
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.
Language, which evolved within the past 200,000 years, endowed our species with the ability to plan for the future and reflect on the past, thus extending our selves backward and forward in time.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026
In the Scientific Reports study, the scientists designed various tasks to assess the participants’ ability to produce words backward and forward.
From Scientific American • Oct. 12, 2023
"Kinross is also really bad for taxis, so we're providing another service that get people backward and forward - it's provided a social element to a small village."
From BBC • Aug. 23, 2023
They require a velvet touch when operating so you don’t create shallow dips where the machine changes direction as you go backward and forward.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 26, 2023
He swung his right arm upward to shake Harry’s hand, but at the last moment seemed unable to face it, and merely closed his fist and began swinging it backward and forward like a metronome.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
