towards
US spellingtoward
- 1Used to show the direction in which someone or something moves, faces or points.
The children raced towards the ice-cream van.
All the bedrooms face towards the sea.
UsageShows direction, not arrival: walk towards the station may stop short of it, while walk to the station gets there.
Similarto
Oppositefrom
Note
The final -s is an old adverb ending, already present in Old English tōweardes, and it changes nothing: towards and toward are one word, and British English prefers the form with -s. The two have long lived side by side; the 1611 Bible uses both within a single verse.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The final -s is an old adverbial ending, already present in Old English tōweardes. en.wiktionary.org
- Toward and towards have long coexisted: both appear in Genesis 48:13 in the 1611 King James Bible. kingjamesbibleonline.org
- 2Used to show the person or thing that a feeling, attitude or action relates to.
Public attitudes towards smoking have changed a great deal.
He has always been generous towards his younger brother.
UsageOften after words for feelings and behaviour: an attitude towards something, generous towards someone.
Similarto, regarding, concerning
- 3Used to show the aim that money, effort or an action is meant to help achieve.
Both sides are working towards a peaceful settlement.
Her grandparents gave her £200 towards a new laptop.
UsageWith money it usually means a share of the cost: £200 towards a laptop helps to pay for it.
Similarfor
Note
With effort it marks progress still under way, so people working towards a settlement have not reached one yet.
- 4Used to say roughly where or when something is: not far from a given place or point in time.
The film gets much better towards the end.
We found seats towards the back of the theatre.
UsageMost often with words for parts of a place or time: towards the end, towards the back, towards evening.
Note
Swift even sets it before a number, toward nine years older, in the sense of nearly, where nearly or getting on for would serve today.
Less common meanings
- 5In the direction of something already mentioned or clear from the situation.
Note
Elizabethan verse could leave it with no object at all: in Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) a varlet comes running towards hastily, the place left understood. Modern English needs the object, running towards them, or another word such as approaching, so the bare adverb now reads as archaic.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
- The poem describes a varlet ‘running towards hastily’, using ‘towards’ without an expressed object and leaving the direction understood. talus.artsci.wustl.edu
- 6About to happen, or in the course of being prepared.
We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”Note
An adjective that stands after its noun: in Romeo and Juliet, we have a trifling foolish banquet towards means a small banquet is ready or on its way. The use is archaic, and a modern reader can easily mistake it for a preposition that has lost its object; in hand or coming up does the job now.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The line occurs in Romeo and Juliet, spoken by Capulet. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
- Towards is an adjective following its noun here, meaning at hand or in preparation. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of towards apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Middle English had towardes, which grew out of the Old English forms tōweardes and tōwærdes. The word is simply toward with an added -s, an ending that forms adverbs.