Towards

How to spell towards

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce towards

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does towards mean?

1. prepositionIn the direction of someone or something, or in relation to a goal or attitude.

Towards in a sentence

• She walked towards the station to catch the early train.

• The company is saving towards a new office building.

Where does towards come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English toweard, which combined the preposition to with the suffix -weard meaning 'turned in the direction of' or 'facing'. That -weard element is the same one preserved in modern English words like forward, backward, and homeward, and it traces back to a Germanic root meaning 'to turn'. The final -s was added later as an adverbial genitive ending, a grammatical leftover that once marked adverbs of direction and manner; the same -s survives in words such as always and besides. In its earliest uses toweard could even mean 'about to come' or 'imminent', as in events that were 'toward' rather than far off. The version without the final -s, 'toward', is the older bare form, and the two have coexisted for centuries, with 'towards' becoming the dominant everyday form in British usage.

How the word is built

• to (in the direction of)
• -ward (denoting direction)
• -s (adverbial genitive ending)