What does "ass-backwards" mean?

Oriented backwards, particularly after a mishap.

What is a synonym for "ass-backwards"?

Common synonyms include: against the grain, anarchic, arsy varsy, astern, away, back.

adj, adv, slang

adj, adv, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Adjective

1
Oriented backwards, particularly after a mishap. colloquial
"The car spun out of control and I ended up ass-backwards in a ditch."
2
Hopelessly misguided; contrary to what is normal, expected, or logical; having taken the utterly wrong choice. colloquial, idiomatic
"No wonder it doesn't work. The whole design is ass-backwards."

Adverb

1
Moving backwards, that is, rear end first. colloquial, not-comparable
2
In a hopelessly misguided manner; in a manner contrary to what is normal, expected, or logical. colloquial, idiomatic, not-comparable
"They did the whole design ass-backwards. No wonder it doesn't work."

"He did get it done but as always, he did it ass-backwards."

Recorded in the US in the 1930s. From ass + backwards

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.