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• to-and-fro
  to-and-fro

  adjective

  back-and-forth.
• to and fro
  to and fro

  adjective

  back and forth

to-and-fro

American  

[too-uhn-froh] / ˈtu ənˈfroʊ /

adjective

1. back-and-forth.

   to-and-fro motion.

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noun

to-and-fros plural

1. a continuous or regular movement backward and forward; an alternating movement, flux, flow, etc..

   the to-and-fro of the surf.

to and fro British  

adjective

1. back and forth

2. here and there

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to and fro Idioms  

1. Back and forth, as in He was like a caged animal, pacing to and fro. Strictly speaking, to means “toward” and fro “away from,” but this idiom is used more vaguely in the sense of “moving alternately in different directions.” [First half of 1300s]

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• toing and froing
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• to-and-fros
  plural

Etymology

Origin of to-and-fro

First recorded in 1820–30; adj. and noun use of adv. phrase to and (fro) ( def. 2 )

Example Sentences

The autumn operation exposed flaws too: The land couldn’t accommodate all the vehicles, said Lemmermann, and it consisted of noncontiguous plots, forcing Rheinmetall to bus soldiers to and fro.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

Shelters have been opened for those displaced from their homes, and helicopters were flying to and fro to bring essentials to people cut off from the rest of the world.

From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025

"There's still a long way to go and I'm sure it'll be to and fro between now and the very last game," he said.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2024

The beasts are the muscle machines, the workaday haulers chuffing to and fro with the takings of forests and mines, fields and factories.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2023

And as they thrust forward, jostling and desperate, the Gallivespians flew down and darted to and fro in front of them, to prevent them from crowding too close.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman