Standard Lemma guide

landward

adj · adv · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: L AE1 N D W ER0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Located, facing or moving in the direction of the land, as opposed to the sea.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: shoreward, shorewards, beachward, beachwards

Antonyms: seaward, seawards, oceanward, oceanwards, lakeward, lakewards

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of the country as opposed to the city, rural; agricultural.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, not-comparable

Examples

  • 1790, John Naismith, Thoughts on Various Objects of Industry Pursued in Scotland, Edinburgh: self-published, Book III, Chapter 2, pp. 331-332, Hence we may see the weakness and absurdity of that kind of jealousy and aversion which seems to subsist between the landward and manufacturing classes of people.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: burghal, urban

3

adv

Meaning 3

Toward the land.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • 2014, “Is Australia responsible for asylum seekers detained on Manus Island?” ABC News, 27 February, 2014, “The position of successive Australian Governments has been that the Refugees Convention only applies to persons within Australia’s territorial boundaries (that is, landward of the outer limits of the territorial sea),” the report said.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: shoreward, shorewards, beachward, beachwards

Antonyms: seaward, seawards, oceanward, oceanwards, lakeward, lakewards

4

noun

Meaning 4

The side facing land.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adverb

Meaning 5

toward land

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • landward, miles of rough grass marshes melt into low uplands

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: landwards

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lendh- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *landą Proto-West Germanic *land Old English land Middle English lond English land Proto-Indo-European *wert-der. Proto-Germanic *wardaz Old English -weard English -ward English landward From land + -ward.

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: maanpuoleinen — in the direction of the land
  • Malay: daya — in the direction of the land
  • Navajo: kéyahgóó — in the direction of the land
  • Navajo: kéyahjigo — in the direction of the land