homeward
part of speech
adverb and adjective (homeward, also homewards)
meaning for a pupil
1) Towards home, as in «We walked homeward». tree →
2) (adjective) Going towards home, as in «the homeward journey». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and poems, characters turn «homeward» at the end of an adventure; Odysseus is «homeward bound». In everyday life it is a slightly formal way to say «going home». In maths problems, «the homeward journey» is the trip back, often on the same distance: 12 km out and 12 km homeward is 24 km in all.
examples
- After the match, we started our homeward journey. tree →
- The tired walkers turned homeward as it got dark. tree →
- Birds fly homeward in spring. tree →
- The ship was homeward bound. tree →
- The homeward trip took longer because of traffic. tree →
- We walked homewards across the fields. tree →
- We wandered silently homeward across the mountains. tree →
note
«Homeward» and «homewards» mean the same; «homewards» is more British as an adverb, while the adjective is always «homeward». «-ward» means «in the direction of», as in «forward», «backward».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «homeward» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.