adverb / adjective · neutral

leftward

UK/ˈleft.wəd/US/ˈleft.wərd/LEFT·ward

Band 6-7task1speaking

toward the left side; in a leftward direction

Examples

On the map, the river bends leftward before entering the valley.

Traffic flowed leftward along the narrow street.

Use 'to the left' in casual speech; 'leftward' is common in formal map descriptions.

Band 8 sentence

On closer inspection the coastline trends leftward for almost three miles before turning sharply south.

Collocations

  • move leftward
  • bend leftward
  • leftward shift

Word family

leftward adv / adjleftwards adv (variant)

Common mistakes

It moved to leftward.It moved leftward.

The road bends to the leftwards.The road bends leftwards.

Say it for a higher band

5to the left6leftwards7+leftward

Synonyms

to the left

Easily confused

to the left

Move the marker to the left until the lines align.

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