behind
adverb · adjective · noun
Simple meaning
At or in the rear or back part of something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bihhyndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
bɪˈhaɪnd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
At or in the rear or back part of something.
In or to or toward the rear
So as to come after someone or something in position, distance, advancement, ranking, time, etc.
Remaining in a place or condition that has been left or departed from
“When he died he left much unfinished work behind.”
So as to be still in place after someone or something has departed or ceased to exist.
In a rearward direction.
adjective
Not advanced to the required or expected degree; overdue or in arrears.
of a watch or clock
Slow.
noun
The rear, back-end.
In the Eton College field game, any of a group of players consisting of two "shorts" (who try to kick the ball over the bully) and a "long" (who defends the goal).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: At or in the rear or back part of something.
Used this way, behind is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use behind
- “When he died he left much unfinished work behind.”adverb
- “He fell behind with his mortgage payments.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
To lag or linger behind.
Retreat.
To lag or linger behind.
Depart and not take along.
Lock up or confine, in or as in a jail.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: not advanced to the required or expected degree
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.