inward
Americanadverb
-
toward the inside, interior, or center, as of a place, space, or body.
-
into or toward the mind or soul.
He turned his thoughts inward.
-
Obsolete.
-
on the inside or interior.
-
in the mind or soul; mentally or spiritually.
-
adjective
-
proceeding or directed toward the inside or interior.
-
situated within or in or on the inside; inner; internal.
an inward room.
-
pertaining to the inside or inner part.
-
located within the body.
the inward parts.
-
pertaining to the inside of the body.
inward convulsions.
-
inland.
inward passage.
-
mental or spiritual; inner.
inward peace.
-
muffled or indistinct, as the voice.
-
private or secret.
-
closely personal; intimate.
-
Archaic. pertaining to the homeland; domestic.
noun
-
the inward or internal part; the inside.
-
inwards, the inward parts of the body; entrails; innards.
adjective
-
going or directed towards the middle of or into something
-
situated within; inside
-
of, relating to, or existing in the mind or spirit
inward meditation
-
of one's own country or a specific country
inward investment
adverb
noun
Other Word Forms
- inwardness noun
Etymology
Origin of inward
before 900; Middle English; Old English inweard. See in, -ward
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.
China’s film industry is increasingly oriented inward, producing domestic franchises with global-scale economics.
From MarketWatch
She is a brilliant wordsmith, who had a transformative effect in literature by shifting the focus inward using indirect discourse to combine a character’s inner thoughts with the narrator’s voice.
From Los Angeles Times
As this material spirals inward under immense gravity, it forms a rotating, disk-shaped structure before falling into the black hole.
From Science Daily
We identified neural circuits related to deception in Meta’s large language model Llama 70B and then manipulated them when the model turned its attention inward.
China’s inward flows may have stalled, but its outward flows have not.
From Barron's
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.
