toward

From Middle English toward, from Old English tōweard, equivalent to to +‎ -ward

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təˈwɔːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tʊˈwɔːɹd/, /twɔɹd/, /tɔɹd/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /tɘˈwoːd/, /ˈtwoːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d
• Hyphenation: to‧ward

toward (chiefly US)

1. In the direction of.

   She moved toward the door.

   • Bible, Numbers xxiv. 1

     He set his face toward the wilderness.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     China has claimed that South Korea’s dust flies toward Shanghai.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. In relation to (someone or something).

   What are your feelings toward him?

   • Bible, Deuteronomy

     His eye shall be evil toward his brother.

3. For the purpose of attaining (an aim).

   I'm saving money toward retirement.

4. Located close to; near (a time or place).

   Our place is over toward the station.

   • Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

     I am toward nine years older since I left you.

• Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words toward and towards, the only difference in practice is dialectal. Toward is more common in American English and towards is more common in British English, though each form may be found in both varieties.

• towards

• fromward, fromwards

toward (not comparable)

1. Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
2. (obsolete) Future; to come.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iv:

     ere that wished day his beame disclosd, / He either enuying my toward good, / Or of himselfe to treason ill disposd / One day vnto me came in friendly mood […]

3. (dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
   • Shakespeare

     Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward?

   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. XV, Practical — Devotional

     On the morrow […] our Lord Abbot orders the Cellerarius to send off his carpenters to demolish the said structure brevi manu, and lay up the wood in safe keeping. Old Dean Herbert, hearing what was toward, comes tottering along hither, to plead humbly for himself and his mill.

4. (obsolete or archaic) Promising, likely.
   • Shakespeare

     Why, that is spoken like a toward prince.

   • 1994 July 25, Jack Winter, “How I met my wife”, in The New Yorker:

     And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do.

• to-draw, todraw

• towarde, towar, towart, touard, touarde, touwar, touward, touwarde, towerd, towert, taward, tawarde, tawart, twoward, tort, toweard, towearde, towerd, towarð, towweard, touwward

From Old English tōweard, tōwærd; equivalent to to +‎ -ward.

toward

1. In the direction of; toward.

   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Clerk's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, line 783-784:

     Toward Saluces shaping hir journey, / Fro day to day they ryden in hir wey […]

     Towards Saluzzo they point their journey, / From day to day they ride on their way […]

2. Into the presence of.
3. In proximity to; near, by.
4. In an exchange or communication with; to.
   • Laȝamon's Brut

     Þe while þe he spac touward Goden.

5. Having a wont or tendency towards.
6. Similar to.
7. Subject to; under the control of.
8. Useful for; prepared for.

• as toward

• English: toward

toward

1. Future, forthcoming; to come.
2. Near at hand; imminent, nigh.
3. Moving forth.
4. of goodwill, benevolent; well-tempered, gentle.

• towardnesse

• English: toward

toward

1. In a given direction, typically toward something specific.
2. Nearly, almost.

• toward and froward

• “toward, (prep.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.
• “toward, (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.
• “toward, (adv.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.