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.
It’s a tender, naked and amusing personal essay, grounded in the now while looking both backward and forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
This, it was concluded, was most likely caused by the repetitive backward and forward movement of an unsupported infant's head pivoting on the neck.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
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
He flexed his arms, bent backward and forward, and felt foolish before his wife.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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.
