Inward

How to spell inward

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce inward

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inward mean?

1. adjectiveDirected or situated toward the inside, or relating to one's inner thoughts and feelings.
2. adverbToward the inside, or toward one's own mind or self.

Inward in a sentence

• adjective

  The inward curve of the road made it hard to see oncoming cars.

• adverb

  The heavy door swung inward when he pushed the handle.

• adjective

  Despite her calm face, she felt an inward panic before the interview.

• adverb

  After the loss, he turned inward and rarely spoke of his plans.

Where does inward come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending from the Old English inneweard, which combined inne, meaning 'inside' or 'within', with the directional suffix -weard, meaning 'turned toward' or 'in the direction of'. That same -weard element survives in a whole family of everyday direction words such as toward, forward, backward, and homeward, all of which share the literal sense of facing a particular way. From the earliest records the word carried both a physical meaning, pointing toward the interior of something, and a figurative one, describing thoughts and feelings turned in on the self. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable across the centuries, with the modern -ward simply being a smoothed form of the older -weard. Because the ending is the unstressed -ward rather than a separate word, writers occasionally hesitate over it, but it is the same suffix found in all those familiar relatives.

How the word is built

• in (toward the inside)
• -ward (Old English -weard, denoting direction)