If someone takes a backward step, they do something that does not change or improve their situation, but causes them to go back a stage. At a certain age, it's not viable for men to take a backward step into unskilled work forward
directed or facing toward the back or rear; "a backward view" (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature; "a backward lover" retarded in intellectual development in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal; "it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward
Used to describe a young wine that is less developed than others of its type and class from the same vintage
in a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal; "it's easy to get the `i' and the `e' backward in words like `seize' and `siege'"; "the child put her jersey on backward"