Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
downward [doun-werd] ExamplesWord Origin adverb
- Also down·wards. from a higher to a lower place or condition.
- down from a source or beginning: As the river flows downward, it widens.
- from a past time, predecessor, or ancestor: The estate was handed downward from generation to generation.
adjective
- moving or tending to a lower place or condition.
- descending from a source or beginning.
Origin of downward 1150–1200; Middle English dounward, aphetic variant of adounward, Old English adūnweard. See down1, -ward Related formsdown·ward·ly, adverbdown·ward·ness, noun Examples from the Web for downwardly Contemporary Examples of downwardly
There’s nothing more of-the-moment than young white people who are downwardly mobile and loving it.
Dave Eggers, Arcade Fire and Other Hipsters Shun the Internet
James Poulos
September 22, 2013
Historical Examples of downwardly
The upper plate of the column has downwardly projecting partitions b which with the partitions a form a series of traps.
A Practical Handbook on the Distillation of Alcohol from Farm Products
F. B. Wright
Thorax subspherical, in the upper half with three conical, downwardly diverging wings, about as long as its radius.
Ernst Haeckel
Thorax campanulate, in the upper half with three short, downwardly diverging, conical wings.
Ernst Haeckel
The downwardly directed head is covered by the pronotum, and the three terminal antennal segments form a distinct club.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6
Various
British Dictionary definitions for downwardly downward adjective
- descending from a higher to a lower level, condition, position, etc
- descending from a beginning
adverb
- a variant of downwards
Derived Formsdownwardly, adverbdownwardness, noun Word Origin and History for downwardly downward adv.
c.1200, from down (adv.) + -ward. Old English had aduneweard in this sense. Downwards, with adverbial genitive, had a parallel in Old English ofduneweardes.