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forward

adjective · adverb · verb

Simple meaning

At or near or directed toward the front.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fawrwerd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɔɹwɚd

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. not comparable

    At or near or directed toward the front

  2. not comparable

    Situated toward or at the front of something.

  3. of troopsguns etc.

    Situated toward or near the enemy lines.

  4. Acting in or pertaining to the direction in which someone or something is facing.

  5. Acting in or pertaining to the direction of travel or movement.

  6. Having the usual order or sequence.

adverb

  1. At or to or toward the front; (`forrad' and `forrard' are dialectal variations)

  2. At, near or towards the front of something.

  3. In the direction in which someone or something is facing.

  4. So that front and back are in the usual orientation.

  5. In the desired or usual direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively; onwards.

  6. In the usual order or sequence.

verb

  1. transitive

    To send (a letter, email etc.) on to a third party.

  2. transitive

    To advance, promote.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: At or near or directed toward the front

Used this way, forward 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.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

looked forwardforward movement

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • forwardsadverbPlural form

    At or to or toward the front.

  • forwardingnounInflected form

    The act of sending on to another destination.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • forward passnounCompound term

    A pass to a receiver downfield from the passer.

  • forward passernounCompound term

    A ball carrier who tries to gain ground by throwing a forward pass.

  • forward motionnounCompound term

    The act of moving forward (as toward a goal).

  • forward marketnounCompound term

    A commodity exchange where futures contracts are traded.

  • come forwardverbCompound term

    Make oneself visible.

  • carry forwardverbCompound term

    Transfer from one time period to the next.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: at or near or directed toward the front

fore

adverb

Sense: at or to or toward the front

onwardheadlongforrardRare

Antonyms

Sense: at or near or directed toward the front

backTechnical

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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.