Onward

How to spell onward

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce onward

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does onward mean?

1. adverbIn a continuing forward direction, in space or in time.
2. adjectiveDirected or moving forward; advancing.

Onward in a sentence

• adverb

  The convoy pressed onward through the storm without stopping.

• adjective

  The company's onward march into new markets surprised its rivals.

• adverb

  From that day onward, she kept a careful record of every expense.

• adjective

  Each report tracked the onward progress of the construction project.

Where does onward come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from Old English, the native Anglo-Saxon stock of the language, built from the preposition 'on' combined with the directional suffix '-weard', which meant 'turned toward' or 'in the direction of'. That same '-ward' element survives in a whole family of everyday words such as 'forward', 'backward', 'toward' and 'homeward', all of which point the reader in a particular direction. The root '-weard' goes back to a Germanic verb meaning 'to turn', so the literal sense was something turned to face a way. By the later medieval period 'onward' had settled into its modern meaning of continuing forward in space or time. The single trap in the spelling is simply that the ending is '-ward' with an 'a', not the '-werd' or '-wird' that the unstressed vowel might suggest when you say it aloud.

How the word is built

• on (forward in space or time)
• -ward (suffix meaning 'in the direction of')