No. 2,897 in Dutch
achterover
"Achterover" means "backward" or "on one's back" in English.
In a sentence
Hij viel achterover van de stoel.
He fell backward off the chair.
Here, 'achterover' means backward, indicating the direction of the fall.
Ze leunde achterover om de sterren te bekijken.
She leaned backwards to look at the stars.
In this sentence, 'achterover' describes the direction of the leaning motion, which is towards the back.
Het publiek viel bijna achterover van verbazing.
The audience was almost overcome with amazement.
'Achterover' is used figuratively to describe the action of metaphorical amazement or surprise as if falling backward.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “achterover” in actual Dutch podcasts.
Find “achterover” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Dutch podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into Nederlands, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Dutch books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).