Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

downward en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdaʊnwəd/ (UK)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈduːnwɐd/ (Northumbria)
  • /ˈdaʊnwɚd/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree English down Proto-Indo-European *wert-der. Proto-Germanic *wardaz Old English -weard English -ward English downward From down + -ward.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Moving, sloping or oriented down.
    • The good news is that data on broken rail incidents is showing a sustained downward trend. And with everything NR is now doing, that trend looks set to continue. 2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Tackling broken rails: the skills and technology improving safety”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 31:
    • The tractive and braking forces are transmitted to the body through a downward projecting pivot pin in the normal way. 1960 December, “The first hundred 25 kV a.c. electric locomotives for B.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 728:
    • He spoke with a downward glance.
    • But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar, Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave, Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore; 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:
    • […] Therese saw a downward slant of sadness in her mouth now, a sadness not of wisdom but of defeat. 1952, Patricia Highsmith, chapter 7, in The Price of Salt, Mineola, New York: Dover, published 2015, page 73:
    • Emerging into the hill-road, Kemp naturally took the downward direction […] 1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 28”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
    • […] in the Western Sky, the downward Sun Looks out illustrious from amid the Flush Of broken Clouds […] 1728, [James] Thomson, Spring. A Poem, […] A[ndrew] Millar, […]; and G[eorge] Strahan, […], →OCLC, page 12:
  2. (not-comparable) Located at a lower level.
    • In her chast Current oft the Goddess laves, And with Celestial Tears augments the Waves. Oft in her Glass the musing Shepherd spies The headlong Mountains and the downward Skies, The watry Landskip of the pendant Woods, And absent Trees that tremble in the Floods; 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 9:
    • 1793, Thomas Taylor (translator), The Phædo in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato, London: Benjamin and John White, p. 235, […] often revolving itself under the earth, [the river] flows into the more downward parts of Tartarus.

Deriveds

downward-facing dog · downward drift · downward spiral · downward dog

Translations (19)

de absteigend (moving down) · es hacia abajo (moving down) · de nach unten gehend (moving down) · de niedersinkend (moving down) · nl neerwaarts (moving down) · ru нисходя́щий (moving down) · de Abwärts- (moving down) · ro coborâtor (moving down) · bg спадащ (moving down) · fi laskeva (moving down) · es cuesta abajo (moving down) · fo hallandi (moving down) · ru спуска́ющийся (moving down) · mi whakararo (moving down) · sv nedåt (moving down) · ro descendent (moving down) · es a la baja (moving down) · sv neråt (moving down) · fo lækkandi (moving down)

downward en · ADV

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdaʊnwəd/ (UK)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈduːnwɐd/ (Northumbria)
  • /ˈdaʊnwɚd/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree English down Proto-Indo-European *wert-der. Proto-Germanic *wardaz Old English -weard English -ward English downward From down + -ward.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.
    • His position in society moved ever downward.
    • [T]heir Sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects that were above them […] 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 71:
    • The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.
    • Novv you muſt bee ſure […] to carry the point or top of the Rod dovvnevvard; by vvhich meanes the ſhadovv of your ſelfe, and Rod too vvill be the leaſt offenſive to the Fiſh, for the ſight of any ſhadovv amazes the fiſh, and ſpoiles your ſport, of vvhich you muſt take a great care. 1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter IV, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN, page 109:
    • Down, downward they went, and yet further down—their descent at each step seeming to outmeasure their advance. 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, “The Halt on the Turnpike-road”, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, book I (The Three Women), page 73:
    • [A] ring the county wears, / That downward hath succeeded in his house / From son to son, some four or five descents c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:
    • Prices have drifted downward in recent weeks.
    • They call her Daffadill: / Whoſe preſence as ſhe went along, / The prety flowers did greet, / As though their heads they downward bent, / With homage to her feete. 1606?, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Ninth Eglog”, in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall. […], London: […] R. B[radock] for N[icholas] L[ing] and I[ohn] Flasket, →OCLC; republished in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall (Publications of the Spenser Society, New Series; 4), [Manchester: […] Charles E. Simms] for the Spenser Society, 1891, →OCLC, page 94:
  2. (not-comparable) At a lower level.
    • Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man / And downward Fish […] 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 462–463:
  3. (not-comparable) Southward.
    • If we turn to the New World, we find that among the American Indians, from the Eskimo of Alaska downward to Brazil and still farther south, homosexual customs have been very frequently observed. 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, volume 2:

Antonyms

upwards · up

Deriveds

downwardness · downwardly · nondownward

Synonyms

down · downwards

Translations (25)

ba түбән (toward a lower level) · ro în vale (toward a lower level) · sv neråt (toward a lower level) · fo niðureftir (toward a lower level) · he כְּלַפֵּימַטָּה־ (toward a lower level) · fi alaspäin (toward a lower level) · ru вниз (toward a lower level) · mi whakararo (toward a lower level) · ba аҫҡа (toward a lower level) · bg надолу (toward a lower level) · de runter (toward a lower level) · fo oman (toward a lower level) · fo omaneftir (toward a lower level) · fo niður (toward a lower level) · de nach unten (toward a lower level) · he מַטָּה (toward a lower level) · ro în jos (toward a lower level) · es hacia abajo (toward a lower level) · mi ki raro (toward a lower level) · got 𐌳𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌸 (toward a lower level) · he לְמַטָּה (toward a lower level) · ml താഴേക്ക് (toward a lower level) · de abwärts (toward a lower level) · ro în coborâre (toward a lower level) · sv nedåt (toward a lower level)