to and fro
adverb [before noun], adjectiveDefinition
› in one direction and then in the opposite direction, a number of times: I was disturbed by all the people walking to and fro outside the office. She was gazing out the window, rocking rhythmically to and fro.Backwards, sideways and back and forth
(Definition of to and fro adverbadjective from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
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- Advancing and moving forward
- Arrivals and departures
- Arriving, entering and invading
- Bending, twisting and curving
- Boarding and alighting from modes of transport
- Bouncing
- Changing direction
- Crossing and moving through
- Delivering and despatching
- Departing
- Describing movement towards
- Digging
- Direction of motion
- Down and downward
- Emitting and ejecting
- Evicting and forcing to leave
- Falling and dropping
- Fast and rapid
- General words for movement
- Immobility
- Increasing and decreasing speed of motion
- Inserting and forcing things into other things
- Jumping
- Making short, sudden movements
- Messengers and people who deliver things
- Movement
- Movement of liquids
- Movement on or through water
- Movement through the air
- Moving a long way on foot
- Moving downwards
- Moving firmly on foot
- Moving gently on foot
- Moving in order to avoid contact
- Moving on your hands and legs or on your stomach
- Moving quickly
- Moving to avoid being seen
- Moving unsteadily or with difficulty
- Moving upwards
- Not holding the body upright
- Phrases telling people to go away
- Physical gestures of respect
- Places and locations
- Placing and positioning an object
- Pleasant and make-believe places
- Posture
- Pulling
- Pursuing
- Pushing and shoving
- Raising and lowering
- Reclining
- Removing and extracting
- Returning to a place
- Revolving, rotating and spinning
- Runaways and refugees
- Running away and escaping
- Shaking, swinging and vibrating
- Sitting and standing
- Slow and moving slowly
- Speed of motion
- Staying and remaining
- Stretching the body
- Taking someone somewhere or telling them the way
- Throwing
- Transferring and transporting objects
- Turning upside down
- Unpleasant places
- Up and upward
- Visiting
- Walking and walkers
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SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- anticlockwise adjective, adverb
- aside adverb (TO ONE SIDE)
- back adverb (FURTHER AWAY)
- back and forth idiom
- back noun (FURTHEST PART)
- backward adjective (OPPOSITE DIRECTION)
- backwards adverb
- counterclockwise adjective, adverb
- from preposition (REMOVE)
- hither and thither idiom
- retro- prefix (BACKWARDS)
- right/wrong way round idiom
- saw verb 2
- sideways adverb, adjective
- stand back phrasal verb
- there and back idiom
- to-ing and fro-ing noun
- up preposition (ALONG)
- up preposition (ORIGIN)
- wrong adjective (NOT SUITABLE)
Word of the Day
gesticulate
to make movements with your hands or arms, to express something or to emphasize what you are saying
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