1. adjective
a) Oriented toward the back.
The battleship had three backwards guns at the stern, in addition to the primary complement.
b) Reversed.
The backwards lettering on emergency vehicles makes it possible to read in the rear-view mirror.
Syn: mirror image, switched, back to front, crude, dated, obsolete, primitive, awkward, fumbling, incompetent, poor
2. adverb
a) Toward the back.
The cabinet toppled over backwards.
b) In the opposite direction of usual.
Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards.—Søren Kierkegaard
Wikipedia foundation.