downward

down +‎ -ward

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnwɚd/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnwəd/

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downward (comparative more downward, superlative most downward)

1. Toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.

   His position in society moved ever downward.

   The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene vii]:

   • 1606?, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Ninth Eglog”, in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall. […], London: […] R. B[radock] for N[icholas] L[ing] and I[ohn] Flasket, OCLC 228714553; republished in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall (Publications of the Spenser Society, New Series; 4), [Manchester: […] Charles E. Simms] for the Spenser Society, 1891, OCLC 15052585, page 94:

     They call her Daffadill:
     Whoſe preſence as ſhe went along,
     The prety flowers did greet,
     As though their heads they downward bent,
     With homage to her feete.

   • 1719 April 25​, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407, page 71:

     [T]heir Sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects that were above them […]

   • 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, “The Halt on the Turnpike-road”, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, OCLC 1167534396, book I (The Three Women), page 73:

     Down, downward they went, and yet further down—their descent at each step seeming to outmeasure their advance.

2. At a lower level.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 462–463:

     Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man
     And downward Fish […]

3. southward
   • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex‎, volume 2:

     If we turn to the New World, we find that among the American Indians, from the Eskimo of Alaska downward to Brazil and still farther south, homosexual customs have been very frequently observed.

• down, downwards

• up, upwards

downward (comparative more downward, superlative most downward)

1. Moving, sloping or oriented downward.

   He spoke with a downward glance.

   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, OCLC 19803734:

     But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar,
     Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,
     Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;

   • 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, OCLC 642619686, [http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004808172.0001.000 page 12 page page 12]:

     […] in the Western Sky, the downward Sun
     Looks out illustrious from amid the Flush
     Of broken Clouds […]

   • 1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 28”, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 904345282:

     Emerging into the hill-road, Kemp naturally took the downward direction […]

   • 1952, Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, Mineola, New York: Dover, 2015, Chapter 7, p. 73,

     […] Therese saw a downward slant of sadness in her mouth now, a sadness not of wisdom but of defeat.

   • 1960 December, “The first hundred 25 kV a.c. electric locomotives for B.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 728:

     The tractive and braking forces are transmitted to the body through a downward projecting pivot pin in the normal way.

2. Located at a lower level.
   • Template:RQ:Pope Windsor-Forest
   • 1793, Thomas Taylor (translator), The Phædo in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato, London: Benjamin and John White, p. 235,

     […] often revolving itself under the earth, [the river] flows into the more downward parts of Tartarus.

• downdraw, draw down, drawdown