'Downward' definitions:

Definition of 'downward'

(from WordNet)
adverb
Spatially or metaphorically from a higher to a lower level or position; "don't fall down"; "rode the lift up and skied down"; "prices plunged downward" [syn: down, downwards, downward, downwardly] [ant: up, upward, upwardly, upwards]
adjective
Extending or moving from a higher to a lower place; "the down staircase"; "the downward course of the stream" [syn: down(a), downward(a)]
adjective
On or toward a surface regarded as a base; "he lay face downward"; "the downward pull of gravity"

Definition of 'Downward'

From: GCIDE
  • Downward \Down"ward\, a.
  • 1. Moving or extending from a higher to a lower place; tending toward the earth or its center, or toward a lower level; declivous. [1913 Webster]
  • With downward force That drove the sand along he took his way. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Descending from a head, origin, or source; as, a downward line of descent. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Tending to a lower condition or state; depressed; dejected; as, downward thoughts. --Sir P. Sidney. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Downward'

From: GCIDE
  • Downward \Down"ward\, Downwards \Down"wards\, adv. [AS. ad?nweard. See Down, adv., and -ward.]
  • 1. 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Their heads they downward bent. --Drayton. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. From a higher to a lower condition; toward misery, humility, disgrace, or ruin. [1913 Webster]
  • And downward fell into a groveling swine. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. From a remote time; from an ancestor or predecessor; from one to another in a descending line. [1913 Webster]
  • A ring the county wears, That downward hath descended in his house, From son to son, some four or five descents. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'downward'

From: Moby Thesaurus