Forward has several adjectival and adverbial definitions, including (1) at, near, or belonging to the front, (2) going toward the front, (3) tending to the front. It’s also a noun denoting a few sports positions. The noun foreword has only one meaning—a preface or introductory note. Book prefaces are usually written by the author, while forewords are often contributed by someone other than the author. Forword and foreward are not dictionary-recognized words.
Examples
Forward is easy, and most writers get it right—for example:
Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said Monday his fractured left big toe likely won’t heal fast enough to allow him to play this week. [Denver Post]
Nevertheless, the new iPhone app is a great leap forward. [Los Angeles Times]
Many state lawmakers defended the current brothel system after and it’s unclear whether Reid’s position has enough support to move forward. [Talking Points Memo]
Foreword is rarer and thus more troublesome. Writers commonly use forward in its place. For example, these writers use forward where they mean foreword:
He and Perry have a good relationship – the former House speaker wrote the forward to Perry’s book . . . [CBS News]
The poignant, stylish Dominique Browning, former editor of House & Garden before it folded, wrote the forward to my first book, “The House Always Wins,” a joy second only to the birth of my children. [NewsOK]
And these writers use foreword well:
In his foreword to Sir Christopher Lee’s autobiography, director Peter Jackson tells what happened on the actor’s final day filming The Lord Of The Rings. [Express]
For Ray Bradbury, who contributes a foreword, it was the conjunction of Halloween and reading Edgar Allan Poe that sparked his “love of real books.” [Wall Street Journal]
