rightwardadv.n.adj.
/ˈrʌɪtwəd/, U.S. /ˈraɪtwərd/ A. adv.
1.
a. In the direction of the right-hand, towards the right.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adverb] > in sideways direction > to right and left > towards the right
righta1500
rightward1555
rightwards?1597
right-handed1841
dextrally1881
1555 L. Digges Prognostication Right Good Effect sig. Eiiiv So, orderly, rightward: in this circle for ever.
1733 J. Millner Compend. Jrnl. 300 Both Armies march'd from their several Decampments Rightward.
1886 W. R. Evans Rustic Walking Routes 1st Ser. 20 Where the lane bends rightward, you see before you a park-gate.
1889 Cornhill Mag. May 552 The face..looks rightward.
1922 Times 23 Jan. 14/4 They then bore rightward to Ruddybrook.
1949 S. Weintraub Price Theory ii. v. 120 If factor prices altered, all short period supply curves would move rightward.
2006 R. S. Gantner Branching Annihilating Random Walks ii. 35 The position of the dry frontier has moved rightward.
b. Towards the political right; in a conservative direction.
ΚΠ
1892 Horsham (Austral.) Times 15 Nov. The opportunity is given by the strong flow rightward of American public opinion.
1920 E. Paul & C. Paul Creative Revol. viii. 137 The bolshevik revolution occurred in November, 1917, and it has altered many outlooks, sending some rightward and some leftward.
1930 T. Frank Life & Lit. Rom. Republic vii. 207 It is probable that most of the property-owning knights had drifted rightward before the year was over... These men had been willing to support the Gracchan theory of popular sovereignty;..but when the more radical democrats began to talk [etc.].
1976 M. Kramer & S. Roberts I never wanted to be Vice-president of Anything! Epil. 376 Ford was dragging in the polls, Ronald Reagan was forcing the president ever rightward, and Nelson Rockefeller was trying desperately to hang on.
1992 New Republic 11 May 28/1 The party began to shift rightward and to break with the shibboleths of the left.
2011 Independent 17 Aug. (Viewspaper section) 5/4 Republicans have been driven ever rightward and Democrats leftward.
2. In the region to the right of a person or thing; on the right-hand side. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > [adverb] > on the right
aright-half1340
righta1500
dexter1726
aright1796
rightward1801
the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > alongside [phrase] > on the right or left
leftward?c1475
on (also to) the (also my, your, etc.) left1594
rightward1801
1801 R. Southey Thalaba II. vi. 18 Rightward and leftward rise the rocks.
1912 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. (1913) 5 39 L and R indicate whether the standard was leftward or rightward of the variable.
1992 J. H. Flavell in H. Beilin & P. Pufall Piaget's Theory v. 110 Predicting the details of the observer's view, for example, correctly identifying which mountain would appear behind or rightward of another from the observer's perspective.
2004 E. Macaluso & J. Driver in C. Spence & J. Driver Crossmodal Space & Crossmodal Attention x. 258 In different blocks, participants fixated either leftward or rightward of the centrally placed right hand.
B. n.
The direction or region to the right (of something). Frequently to (the) rightward (of). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [phrase] > from the side > in direction of right side
to (the) rightward (of)1814
rightwards1902
1814 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Vision II. xi. 49 Along the bank to rightward come with us.
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles vi. xxiv. 255 To rightward of the wild affray, The field shew'd fair and level way.
1872 S. Ferguson Congal ii. 25 All the seats were full, save two alone, The Monarch's, and the vacant chair to rightward of the throne.
1897 S. Ferguson Lays of Red Branch 103 To rightward of the great door in the midst A bench I saw.
1954 A. A. Roback Destiny & Motivation in Lang. ix. 204 After Ethiopia was forced to accept Christianity, the Semitic aspect was probably reduced, eg, by reversing the direction of writing from leftward to rightward.
2001 A. M. Smith Alhacen's Theory Visual Perception II. 633 From B the peg at L will be seen to the right of Q along a ray that lies to the rightward of visual axisBC.
C. adj.
1. Directed, tending, or moving towards the right. Also occasionally: situated on the right-hand side.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adjective] > having sideways direction > directed towards the right
right-handed1767
rightward1825
rightwards1917
1825 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 75/1 We relieved a section of the light division, which immediately took a rightward course.
1877 R. D. Joyce Deirdre 116 Young Ainli took the left: the rightward wing with hearts of fire heard Ardan's harness ring.
1885 F. W. H. Myers in Proc. Psychical Res. Jan. 59 A hypnotic subject who..has been accustomed to write with her left-hand in ordinary rightward script.
1921 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 11 291 A downward vertical position ‘6 o'clock’, a rightward horizontal position ‘3 o'clock’, etc.
1937 Mech. World & Engin. Rec. 14 May 488/1 To show the effect of adopting the rightward technique a series of comparative experiments was carried out.
1972 Sci. Amer. July 86/3 Usually a reader sees a page of text and moves his eyes over it, ordinarily in a rightward and downward direction.
1997 H. van Riemsdijk in D. Beerman et al. Rightward Movement 4 He tries to show that the apparent rightward movement of arguments is derived by short movement of the direct object to agro and long movement of the verb and its other arguments around it.
2007 J. D. Wallis in S. Funahashi Representation & Brain xii. 296 They taught monkeys that two objects (A and B) instructed whether to make a leftward or rightward eye movement.
2. That tends or moves towards the political right.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [adjective] > right
illiberal1649
white?1740
right1794
conservative1802
centre-right1822
agricolous1825
hunkerish1857
right wing1857
rightward1887
rightist1894
rightwards1931
right-of-centre1937
establishmentarian1962
righty1970
neo-con1979
New Rightist1981
1887 Otago Daily Times (N.Z.) 25 Nov. 2/3 The result of this Rightward tendency of the President..has been that for some time past M. Grévy has abandoned the strictly constitutional position and fought hard to patch up difficulties between the different sections of the Left.
1920 New Statesman 30 Oct. 99/1 The Unions are at present busy making their machinery more thoroughly democratic, and the result is likely to be seen, not in a rightward but in a leftward shift.
1933 Week-end Rev. 29 July 106/1 The new Rightward swing of Hitlerism.
1941 ‘G. Orwell’ in Partisan Rev. July 319 The recent rightward swing means that we are being regimented by wealthy men and aristocrats rather than by representatives of the common people.
1954 V. R. Lorwin French Labor Movement viii. 138 The rightward trend of politics since 1947 further alarmed the unions.
1970 R. J. Lieber Brit. Politics & European Unity 167 Substantial pro-European feeling had existed within the [Labour] Party, but this sentiment waned with the rightward drift of those countries.
1993 Sat. Night (Toronto) July 16/3 His programme's appeal is limited by its radicalism and rightward slant.
2004 Politics Oct. 45/1 Any successful Tory leader today would be well advised to drop any trace of centrism in favour of a rightward shift.
Compounds
rightward welding n. welding that proceeds from left to right, if the blowpipe is held in the right hand and the welding rod horizontally in the left.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > [noun] > welding > types of
butt welding1878
lead burning1886
arc welding1890
thermite process1905
thermite welding1906
resistance welding1908
spot welding1908
seam welding1917
fusion welding1918
projection welding1918
stud welding1918
metal arc welding1926
pressure welding1926
metallic arc welding1927
flash-butt welding1933
flash welding1933
stitch welding1934
rightward welding1936
block welding1943
submerged-arc welding1945
friction welding1946
T.I.G.1960
microwelding1962
1936 Proc. 12th Internat. Congr. Acetylene, Oxy-Acetylene Welding & Allied Industries 167/1 In rightward welding not only the welding pool itself, but also the brightly glowing parts of the weld seam in its immediate neighbourhood are protected by the reducing zone against the effects of the oxygen in the air.
1941 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding iii. 146 Rightward welding..was introduced some years ago to compete with electric arc welding in the welding of plate over 3/ 16 in. thick... In this method the weld progresses along the seam from left to right, the rod following the blowpipe.
2002 R. D. Treloar Plumbing: Heating & Gas Installations (ed. 2) i. 50 With the rightward welding technique, the welding progresses in the opposite direction, i.e. from left to right.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adv.n.adj.1555