different between below vs downward

English

Etymology

From Middle English bilooghe, equivalent to be- +? low. Compare also earlier Middle English alogh, alow, alo?, alowe (“below”) and benethen (“beneath”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b??l??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /b??lo?/
• Hyphenation: be?low
• Rhymes: -??

Preposition

below

1. Lower in spatial position than.

2. (law) Within the writing of a given document which follows a particular appearance of the word "below".

   "By their execution hereof, the Parties incur a legal obligation to pass consideration under this Loan Contract as is set forth below."

3. Lower in value, price, rank or concentration than.

   • one degree below kings

4. Downstream of.
5. South of.
6. Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of; beneath.
   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     who thinks no fact below his regard

7. (stage directions) Downstage of.
   • 1952, Frederick Knott, Dial "M" for Murder, 1954 Dramatists Play Service acting edition, act 1, scene 1:

     Below the sofa is a low, round coffee table.

Synonyms

• (lower in spatial position than): beneath, under, underneath
• (lower in value than): under
• (downstream of): downstream
• (unsuitable to the rank or dignity of): beneath

Antonyms

• (lower in spatial position than): above, over
• (lower in value than): over
• (downstream of): upstream

Derived terms

• below the belt

Translations

Adverb

below (not comparable)

1. In a lower place.
2. On a lower storey.
3. Further down.
4. (nautical) On a lower deck.

5. (of a temperature) Below zero.

Synonyms

• (in a lower place): beneath, under, underneath
• (on a lower storey): downstairs
• (farther down): downwards

Antonyms

• (in a lower place): aloft, overhead, up
• (on a lower storey): upstairs
• (farther down): upwards

Translations

Derived terms

Pages starting with “below”.

• below average
• below decks/belowdecks
• belowground
• below par
• below the belt
• below the fold

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "The vertical axis", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Anagrams

• Blowe, Lebow, blowe, bowel, bowle, elbow

English

Etymology

down +? -ward

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?da?nw?d/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?da?nw?d/

Adverb

downward (comparative more downward, superlative most downward)

1. Toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value.

   His position in society moved ever downward.

   The natural disasters put downward pressure on the creditworthiness of the nation’s insurance groups.

   • c. 1590s, Michael Drayton, “The Ninth Eglog” in Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall, London: N.L. and I. Flasket (no date), published by the Spenser Society, 1891, p. 94,^[1]

     Whose presence, as she went along,

     The prety flowers did greet,

     As though their heads they downward bent

     With homage to her feete.

   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act III, Scene 7,^[2]

     […] a ring the county wears,

     That downward hath succeeded in his house

     From son to son, some four or five descents

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, p. 71,^[3]

     […] their Sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see Objects that were above them […]

   • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Book I, Chapter 4,^[4]

     Down, downward they went, and yet further down—their descent at each step seeming to outmeasure their advance.

2. At a lower level.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, London, Book I, lines 462-463,^[5]

     Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man

     And downward Fish […]

3. southward

Synonyms

• down, downwards

Antonyms

• up, upwards

Translations

Adjective

downward (comparative more downward, superlative most downward)

1. Moving, sloping or oriented downward.

   He spoke with a downward glance.

   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis,^[7]

     But this foul, grim, and urchin-snouted boar,

     Whose downward eye still looketh for a grave,

     Ne’er saw the beauteous livery that he wore;

   • 1728, James Thomson, Spring. A Poem, London: A. Millar, p. 12,^[8]

     […] in the Western Sky, the downward Sun

     Looks out illustrious from amid the Flush

     Of broken Clouds […]

   • 1897, H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 28,^[9]

     Emerging into the hill-road, Kemp naturally took the downward direction […]

   • 1952, Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, Mineola, New York: Dover, 2015, Chapter 7, p. 73,^[10]

     […] Therese saw a downward slant of sadness in her mouth now, a sadness not of wisdom but of defeat.

2. Located at a lower level.
   • 1713, Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest, London: Bernard Lintott, p. 9,^[11]

     In her chast Current oft the Goddess laves,

     And with Celestial Tears augments the Waves.

     Oft in her Glass the musing Shepherd spies

     The headlong Mountains and the downward Skies,

     The watry Landskip of the pendant Woods,

     And absent Trees that tremble in the Floods;

   • 1793, Thomas Taylor (translator), The Phædo in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato, London: Benjamin and John White, p. 235,^[12]

     […] often revolving itself under the earth, [the river] flows into the more downward parts of Tartarus.

Translations

Anagrams

• downdraw, draw down, drawdown