adjective / adverb · neutral
downward
UK/ˈdaʊnwəd/US/ˈdaʊnwɚd/DOWN·ward
Band 5-6speakingtask2
moving or trending toward a lower level or position
Examples
“The chart shows a downward trend in unemployment.”
“Temperatures moved downward overnight.”
“a downward slope”
Band 8 sentence
“Overall consumption followed a clear downward trajectory over the past decade, reflecting both demographic shifts and changing preferences.”
Collocations
- downward trend
- move downward
- a downward slope
Word family
downward adj., adv.downwards adv. (BrE variant)
Common mistakes
Prices go downward.→Prices go down.
There was a many downward in sales.→There was a large downward trend in sales.
Say it for a higher band
5down→6decrease→7+downward
Synonyms
declining
Easily confused
down
“After the storm, temperatures went down by several degrees.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -ward
Learn it with its set