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southwest

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southwest¹

  • /saʊθˈwɛst/
  • /sawθˈwɛst/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /saʊˈwɛst/ dialectal

Rhymes with -ɛst

Where it comes from

From Middle English southwest, southewest, from Old English sūþwest and sūþanwestan, equivalent to south + west. Cognate with West Frisian súdwest, Dutch zuidwest, German Südwesten, Danish sydvest, Swedish sydväst.

noun southwests · south-west · sou'-west · SW

  1. The intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°. So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

    Opposite: northeast

adjective more southwest · most southwest · south-west · sou'-west · SW

  1. not comparable, usually Of, in or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
  2. not comparable, usually Situated toward or in the direction of the southwest; southwestward; southwesterly. A southwest course.
  3. not comparable, usually Coming from the southwest; southwesterly. A southwest wind.

adverb further southwest · farther southwest · furthest southwest · farthest southwest · south-west · sou'-west

  1. not comparable, usually Towards or in the direction of the southwest; southwestwards. We are travelling southwest at the moment.

Southwest²

Where it comes from

By proprialization from southwest, which is equivalent to south + west.

* (Montreal): Calque of French Sud-Ouest.

* (United States of America): Ellipsis of American Southwest or Desert Southwest.

proper noun

  1. with the A borough and region of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

    Similar: Le Sud-Ouest, Sud-Ouest

  2. with the Synonym of Southwestern United States.

    Similar: American Southwest, Desert Southwest, Southwestern United States

  3. A locality in the Central Highlands council area, the Derwent Valley council area, Huon Valley council area and the West Coast council area, central Tasmania, Australia.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: southwesterly, southwestern, sw, south, southeast, northwest, northwestern, north-west, south-west, south-western, south-east, south-eastern, southern, southeastern, western, westerner

Translations

Every language

noun compass point

Españolsudoeste, suroeste, sudueste, sudoccidente, suroccidente
한국어서남 seonam, 남서 namseo
日本語南西 nansei, 西南 seinan, 坤 hitsujisaru
中文西南 xīnán
हिन्दीदक्षिण-पश्चिम dakṣiṇ-paścim
Kiswahilikusini-magharibi
Portuguêssudoeste
Françaissud-ouest
DeutschSüdwesten
Italianosudovest
Ελληνικάνοτιοδυτικά notiodytiká
Românăsud-vest, sudvest
Русскийю́го-за́пад júgo-západ, зюйд-ве́ст zjujd-vést
Tiếng Việtphía tây nam, hướng tây nam, tây nam

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MLA

"southwest." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/southwest. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

southwest. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/southwest

Chicago

"southwest." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/southwest.

BibTeX
@misc{southwest_2026,
  title = {southwest},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/southwest},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}