ass-backwardadv.adj.
/asˈbakwəd/, U.S. /ˌæsˈbækwərd/ slang (originally and chiefly North American).Generally regarded as coarse.
A. adv.
Backwards, back to front, the wrong way round; in a manner contrary to what is usual, expected, or logical; = ass-backwards adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > [adverb] > in reversed order
reversea1393
topsy-turvy1528
preposterously1533
hysteron proteron1602
inverselya1628
inversedly1645
reversedly1649
reversely1659
reverse ways1762
ass-backward1939
1939 Moo de Mudderland (transcript of interview with H. Partnow) (Libr. of Congr: Amer. Life Hist.: MSS from Federal Writers' Project, 1936–40) 3 [Interview with H. Partnow.] If ya kin read de writin on em stones in Greece, dat's where it's proved about Moo. Ya gotta read it ass backward.
1973 N. Freedman Joshua 137 He got things done, but kind of ass-backward, if you know what I mean.
1999 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 299/2 The planners have everything ass-backward.
2015 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 3 Sept. b4 He did whatever it took, even if it meant doing it ass backward and at the last minute.
B. adj.
Contrary to what is usual, expected, or logical; back-to-front, muddled, perverse; = ass-backwards adj.
ΚΠ
1952 R. Ellison Invisible Man vii. 118 We're an ass-backward people.
1986 Adweek (U.S.) (Nexis) 12 May A Kludge..is an ass-backward way of making something work, like fixing the arithmetic program that produces ‘3 + 3 = 8’.
2001 C. Benard Turning on Girls 151 It has to sound like a criticism but actually be a sort of ass-backward compliment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.adj.1939