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• froward
  froward

  adjective

  willfully contrary; not easily managed.
• Froward
  Froward

  noun

  Cape, a cape in S Chile, on the Strait of Magellan: southernmost point of mainland South America.

froward

¹ American  

[froh-werd, froh-erd] / ˈfroʊ wərd, ˈfroʊ ərd /

adjective

1. willfully contrary; not easily managed.

   to be worried about one's froward, intractable child.

   Synonyms:

   difficult, unmanageable, wayward, fractious, disobedient, willful, obstinate

   Antonyms:

   tractable, docile

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Froward ² American  

[froh-werd, froh-erd] / ˈfroʊ wərd, ˈfroʊ ərd /

noun

1. Cape, a cape in S Chile, on the Strait of Magellan: southernmost point of mainland South America.

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froward British  

/ ˈfrəʊəd /

adjective

1. archaic obstinate; contrary

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Other Word Forms

• frowardness
  noun
• unfroward
  adjective
• frowardly
  adverb
• unfrowardly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of froward

First recorded in 1150–1200, froward is from the Middle English word froward, fraward. See fro, -ward

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

froward Froward

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

But the series swims also on an ocean of wondrous language, in which inept seamen, for instance, are not only "sad brutish grobians," but "froward dirty disreputable rough good-for-nothing disorderly ragabashes and raparees."

From Time Magazine Archive

There is, perhaps, nowhere to be found a truer picture of the fond and froward passion of love, than that which is given us in the character of Phædria.

From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume I by John Dunlop

Never forgetful, Love may forget; Froward and fretful, Child, he will fret; Ever regretful, He will regret.

From Days and Dreams Poems by Madison J. Cawein

From Cape Froward to the westward, unless favoured by a fair wind, it is necessary to persevere and take advantage of every opportunity of advancing step by step.

From Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836 Volume I. - Proceedings of the First Expedition, 1826-1830 by Robert Fitzroy

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 Gordon Stables

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 Jules Verne

Soon after passing Port Famine we saw the bold outline of Cape Froward, the southernmost point of South America, stretching into the Straits.

From A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam' Our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months by Annie Brassey