Downwards

Definition: Downwards

Downwards

Adverb

1. Spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position; "don't fall down"; "rode the lift up and skied down"; "prices plunged downward".

Date "downwards" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references)

Synonyms: Downwards

Synonyms: down (adv), downward (adv), downwardly (adv). (additional references)

Antonym: up (adv). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Descent	Adverb: downhill, downwards.
Lowness	Adverb: under; beneath, underneath; below; downwards; adown, at the foot of; under foot, under ground; down stairs, below stairs; at a low ebb; below par.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Title
Books	Loci critici; passages illustrative of critical theory and practice from Aristotle downwards (reference) The Smith family: being a popular account of most branches of the name--from the fourteenth century downwards, with numerous pedigrees now published for the first time (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Mencius	The people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Sylvie and Bruno	Carroll, Lewis	When the bush had sunk quite out of our sight, marble steps were seen, leading downwards into darkness.
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	It was lying with the face downwards, the arms crossed, in the immobility of death.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	South Africa	For 2001, however, most analysts have revised their economic growth forecasts downwards to 2.8 percent because of the deceleration of world economic growth. (references)
	Tunisia	EARLY ESTIMATES TARGETED 6.2 PER CENT GROWTH FOR 2001 BUT THIS WILL PROBABLY BE REVISED DOWNWARDS TO 5.2 PERCENT, THE RESULT OF A DROUGHT THAT HAS HIT THE CEREAL AND OLIVE HARVEST. (references)
	Singapore	Real GDP growth in Singapore slowed to 4.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2001 and advance estimates suggest that GDP in Q2 2001 grew by only 0.8%. Given the steeper than expected decline in GDP growth, the Singapore government revised downwards its forecast of 2001 GDP growth to 0.5%-1.5%. Few analysts now expect Singapore's economy to begin to recover until mid-2002. (references)
Political Economy	MEXICO	Growth for 2001 has been revised downwards from seven percent to one percent or less, with negative growth for the last two quarters of 2001. Despite the economic outlook, the Mexican Central Bank is not likely to loosen monetary policy significantly because high wage settlements in some sectors and a weakening peso pose inflationary dangers. (references)
Travel	Jamaica	However, due to growing competition and recession in the economy, the mark ups on products are inching downwards. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Downwards" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Downwards" is used about 739 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adverb (general)	100%	739	9,187

Expressions using "downwards": face downwards ♦ from above the top downwards ♦ from the 10th century downwards ♦ head downwards ♦ lie face downwards ♦ lying face downwards ♦ spiral downwards ♦ two cones,point downwards. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "downwards": face-downwards.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "downwards"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		deri poshtë fare, teposhtë (down, downhill), tatëpjetë (bevel, decline, declivity, descent, dip, down, downhill, downward, incline, ramp, slant, slope), e poshtë. (various references)

Arabic		‏نازلة. (various references)

Bulgarian		насам (along, here, hither, over, round, this way, thither, thitherwards), надолу (below, down, under). (various references)

Chinese		向下 (Downward). (various references)

Czech		dolù (down, downward, under, underneath). (various references)

Danish		nedad (down). (various references)

Dutch		naar beneden (down, underneath). (various references)

French		vers le bas (down, downward). (various references)

German		abwärts (down, downhill, downward). (various references)

Greek		καθοδικά (downhill), προσ τα κάτω (adown), προς τα κάτω (downhill, downstream). (various references)

Hungarian		lefelé (down, down the line, downward). (various references)

Italian		verso il basso (downward). (various references)

Korean		아래쪽으로 (Downward). (various references)

Manx		sheese (below, below in motion, down, downward), neose (down, downward). (various references)

Norwegian		nedover. (various references)

Pig Latin		ownwardsday

Portuguese		por baixo (below, down, downhill, under, underlying, underneath), para baixo (down, downstairs, downward), em baixo (at bottom, below, down, downhill, downstairs, flatly), abaixo (below, beneath, down, downhill, downstairs, thereunder, underneath). (various references)

Romanian		cu capul în jos (head downwards, upside down). (various references)

Russian		вниз (down, downstairs, underneath). (various references)

Scottish		sìos (down, used with v. implying movement). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nizbrdo (downhill, downward, skid: on the skid). (various references)

Spanish		hacia abajo (down, downward). (various references)

Swedish		nedåt (down, down along, downward, downwardly). (various references)

Turkish		aşağıya doğru (down, downcast, downward), aşağıya (down, down there, downstairs, downward, infra, kata-). (various references)

Ukrainian		униз (alow, below, down, down grade, downhill, downstairs, downward, netherward, under), по низхідній лінії (downward). (various references)

Vietnamese		xuống (down, downward, neap, neap-tide), trở về sau (downward), đi xuống (downward). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	deorsum, dorsum. (various references)
Avestan	200-600	ava-. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "downwards" (pronounced dou"nwerdz)
5	-n w er d z	onwards.
4	-w er d z	afterwards, backwards, buzzwords, carryforwards, forwards, outwards, upwards, westwards.
3	-er d z	bastards, billiards, biohazards, blackbirds, blizzards, buzzards, collards, cowards, cupboards, drunkards, gurnards, hazards, innards, laggards, leopards, lizards, mallards, mustards, orchards, Oxfords, placards, shepherds, standards, stewards, vineyards, wizards.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: drawdowns.
	Words within the letters "a-d-d-n-o-r-s-w-w"
	-1 letter: downward, drawdown.
	-2 letters: drownds, onwards.
	-3 letters: adorns, dorsad, drownd, drowns, onward, radons, rowans.
	-4 letters: adorn, adown, arson, dados, darns, dawns, donas, dorsa, downs, drawn, draws, drown, nards, radon, rands, roads, roans, rowan, sarod, sonar, sowar, sward, sword, sworn, wands, wards, warns, woads, words.
	-5 letters: adds, ados, ands, awns, dado, dads, darn, dawn, daws, dona, dons.
	Words containing the letters "a-d-d-n-o-r-s-w-w"
	+3 letters: downwardness.
	+5 letters: downwardnesses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.