Synonym of backward; see usage notes there.
"The old car struggled to climb the hill, rolling backwards down the slope as if it had no engine at all."
In plain English: Backwards means facing or moving toward where you started instead of forward.
"The toddler walked backwards until he hit the wall."
Synonym of backward; see usage notes there.
"The child tried to walk backwards down the stairs, but he slipped and fell forward instead."
In plain English: Backwards means moving toward where you started instead of going forward to your destination.
"The car went backwards down the hill without anyone noticing until it was too late."
The word backwards is formed by adding the suffix -s to the adjective backward. This construction follows a common pattern used to create similar directional adverbs like downwards and inwards.