downwards Meaning, Definition & Usage

adverb spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position
down; downward; downwardly.
- don't fall down
- rode the lift up and skied down
- prices plunged downward

AS. adnweard. See Down, adv., and -ward.

From a higher place to a lower; in a descending course; as, to tend, move, roll, look, or take root, downward or downwards. "Looking downwards." Pope.
Their heads they downward bent. Drayton.
From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin.
And downward fell into a groveling swine. Milton.
From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line.
A ring the county wears, That downward hath descended in his house, From son to son, some four or five descents. Shak.

Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous.
With downward force That drove the sand along he took his way. Dryden.
Descending from a head, origin, or source; as, a downward line of descent.
Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected; as, downward thoughts. Sir P. Sidney.