-ward

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

-ward suffix

1. (forming adjectives) indicating direction towards: a backward step, heavenward progress
2. (forming adverbs)
   a variant and the usual US and Canadian form of -wards

Etymology: Old English -weard towards

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ward /wɔrd/   n. [countable]

1. Government an administrative division of a city or town, or a division for voting purposes.
2. a division of a hospital:
   a children's ward.
3. a division of a prison.
4. Law a person, esp. a child or person under eighteen, who is under the care of a legal guardian or a court.

v. 

5. to turn aside;
   avert: [~ + off + object]
   to ward off a blow; to ward off disease.
   [~ + object + off]
   to ward it off.

-ward, suffix. 

1. Pronouns -ward is used to form adjectives or adverbs with the meaning "in or toward a certain direction in space or time'':
   backward.
   Also, -wards. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

-wards, 

1. Pronouns var. of -ward: towards;
   afterwards.

• Old English -weardes, equivalent. to -weard toward (see ward) + -es -s¹ Middle English

Usage

See -ward. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ward  (wôrd), n. 

1. Government a division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes.
2. Government one of the districts into which certain English and Scottish boroughs are divided.
3. a division, floor, or room of a hospital for a particular class or group of patients:
   a convalescent ward; a critical ward.
4. any of the separate divisions of a prison.
5. Government a political subdivision of a parish in Louisiana.
6. [Mormon Ch.] one of the subdivisions of a stake, presided over by a bishop.
7. [Fort.] an open space within or between the walls of a castle or fortified place:
   the castle's lower ward.
8. Law
   • Law a person, esp. a minor, who has been legally placed under the care of a guardian or a court.
   • Law the state of being under the care or control of a legal guardian.
   • Law guardianship over a minor or some other person legally incapable of managing his or her own affairs.
9. Law the state of being under restraining guard or in custody.
10. a person who is under the protection or control of another.
11. a movement or posture of defense, as in fencing.
12. a curved ridge of metal inside a lock, forming an obstacle to the passage of a key that does not have a corresponding notch.
13. the notch or slot in the bit of a key into which such a ridge fits.
14. the act of keeping guard or protective watch:
    watch and ward.
15. [Archaic.] a company of guards or a garrison.

v.t. 

16. to avert, repel, or turn aside (danger, harm, an attack, an assailant, etc.) (usually fol. by off):
    to ward off a blow; to ward off evil.
17. to place in a ward, as of a hospital or prison.
18. [Archaic.] to protect;
    guard.

• bef. 900; (noun, nominal) Middle English warde, Old English weard; (verb, verbal) Middle English warden, Old English weardian; cognate with Middle Dutch waerden, German warten; compare guard

ward′less, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1. precinct.
• 10. protégé.
• 16. parry, prevent.

Ward  (wôrd), n. 

1. Biographical (Aaron) Montgomery, 1843–1913, U.S. merchant and mail-order retailer.
Ar•te•mas  (är′tə məs), 1727–1800, American general in the American Revolution. Ar•te•mus  (är′tə məs), (Charles Farrar Browne), 1834–67, U.S. humorist.
2. Biographical Barbara (Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth), 1914–81, English economist and author.
3. Biographical Mrs. Humphry (Mary Augusta Arnold), 1851–1920, English novelist, born in Tasmania.
4. Biographical Sir Joseph George, 1856–1930, New Zealand statesman, born in Australia: Prime Minister 1906–12, 1928–30.
5. Biographical Lester Frank, 1841–1913, U.S. sociologist.
6. Biographical Nathaniel ("Theodore de la Guard''), 1578?–1652, English clergyman, lawyer, and author in America.
7. a male given name.

-ward, 

1. Pronouns a native English suffix denoting spatial or temporal direction, as specified by the initial element:
   toward;
   afterward;
   backward.

Also, -wards. 

• Middle English; Old English -weard towards; cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin vertere to turn (see verse)

Usage

Both -ward and -wards occur in such words as backward, forward, upward, and toward. The -ward form is by far the more common in edited American English writing.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

-wards, -ward suffix:forming_adverbs

1. indicating direction towards: a step backwards, to sail shorewards
   Compare -ward

Etymology: Old English -weardes towards