Downward means moving or pointing toward a lower position or level. When you ride your bike downward on a hill, you're heading toward the bottom. When an airplane descends, it travels downward through the sky toward the ground.

The word describes direction or movement from higher to lower. A graph might show downward trends when numbers are decreasing. Rain falls downward from clouds. A diver plunges downward into a pool. Temperature can move downward as evening approaches.

Downward often suggests the pull of gravity: things naturally fall downward unless something holds them up. But the word isn't always about physical movement. You might revise your expectations downward when you realize something will be harder than you thought, meaning you're adjusting them lower.

The opposite is upward, which means moving toward a higher position. While downward can sometimes feel negative (like declining grades), it's often neutral: hiking downward after reaching a mountain summit can feel just as good as climbing up.