MEANING
1. Existing in a person’s private thoughts or feelings rather than being openly expressed.
2. Directed or moving toward an inside, centre, or receiving place.
Use it for
describing a reaction kept inside; contrasting private feeling with visible composure; showing an internal preoccupation without spoken explanationContrasts unexpressed inner feeling with physical movement toward an interior, especially when a character’s reaction stays hidden. Writing functions: Inner Life / Movement.
Words that belong together
- inward struggle
- inward reflection
- an inward smile
On the page
Her answer was courteous, but it cost her a small inward struggle.
He watched the celebration with an inward stillness that no one mistook for grief.
The metal doors bowed inward before the hinges gave way.
As the light narrowed, the crowd drew inward around the table.
Word forms
- Base
- inward
Usage notes
Adjective and adverb; canonical inward, with adverb variant inwards. Generally not compared in the directional sense. Figurative comparison such as more inward-looking uses a different construction, not an invented inflection. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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