southwest
/saʊθˈwɛst/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/sawθˈwɛst/
southwest noun: the intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°.
Noun
southwest (plural southwests)
- 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.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40
- After a while we returned aboard Belvedere, set a course for the southwest, and sailed once more in frustration back to Tuk.1990 August, John Bockstoce, “Changing Images of the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 22
- Antonyms:
- northeast
Adjective
southwest (not generally comparable, comparative more southwest, superlative most southwest)
- Of, in or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
- Situated toward or in the direction of the southwest; southwestward; southwesterly.
- A southwest course.
- Coming from the southwest; southwesterly.
- A southwest wind.
Adverb
southwest (not generally comparable, comparative further southwest or farther southwest, superlative furthest southwest or farthest southwest)
- Towards or in the direction of the southwest; southwestwards.
- We are travelling southwest at the moment.
Proper noun capitalized: Southwest
Southwest
- A borough and region of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- Synonyms:
- Le Sud-Ouest, Sud-Ouest
- Synonym of Southwestern United States.
- 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.
southwest meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
southwest in Hindi
- compass point
- दक्षिण-पश्चिम dakṣiṇ-paścim
southwest in Tamil
- compass point
- தென்மேற்கு teṉmēṟku
southwest in Marathi
- southwest
- आग्नेय āgneya, नैऋत्य nairutya
southwest in Bengali
- নৈর্ঋত
More languagesFewer languages
- southwest in Telugu
- నైఋతి nair̥ti
- southwest in Malayalam
- തെക്കുപടിഞ്ഞാറ്
- southwest in Kannada
- ನೈಋತ್ಯ, ತೆಂಕುವಡುವಣ, ಪಡುದೆಂಕಣ, ವಂಕಣ
- southwest in Malay
- barat daya
- southwest in Indonesian
- barat daya
- southwest in Persian
- جنوب غربی jonub-e ġarbi
- southwest in Thai
- หรดี hɔ̌ɔ-rá-dii
- southwest in Vietnamese
- phía tây nam, hướng tây nam, tây nam
- southwest in Myanmar
- အနောက်တောင် a.nauktaung
Examples of southwest in a sentence
- Southwest Airlines' fleet consists of all Boeings, without a single Airbus.
- The shore of the sea trends to the southwest.
- Since home plate is generally in the southwest corner to avoid glare in the batter's eyes, a southpaw's pitching hand is to the south.
Synonyms of southwest
Antonyms
Forms of southwest
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | southwests |
| alternative UK | south-west |
| alternative form | sou'-west |
| alternative abbreviation | SW |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more southwest |
| superlative | most southwest |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | further southwest |
| comparative | farther southwest |
| superlative | furthest southwest |
| superlative | farthest southwest |
Origin of southwest
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.
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.
Words formed from southwest
Phrases with southwest
- Southwest Asia
- west southwest
- south southwest
- Southwest Asian
- Southwest Papua
- southwest salad
- Desert Southwest
- Southwest Asians
- southwest salads
- Southwest Finland
- southwest monsoon
- American Southwest
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with southwest
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- attest
- guest
- quest
- bequest
- distressed
- pest
- prest
- request
- revest
- west
- wrest
- zest
- contest
- depressed
- dressed
- gest
- impressed
- jest
- suggest
- acid test
- best
- celeste
- divest
- ingest
- molest
- North West
- northwest
- possessed
- pressed
- professed
- -cest
- addressed
- behest
- compressed
- congest
- detest
- fest
- infest
- lest
- obsessed
- pretest
- processed
- repressed
- rest.
- stressed
- tressed
- unrest
- unstressed
Questions about southwest
- What does southwest mean?
- Southwest means the intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°.
- What is southwest in Hindi?
- Southwest in Hindi is दक्षिण-पश्चिम (dakṣiṇ-paścim). See Southwest meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is southwest?
- Southwest can be a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce southwest?
- Southwest is pronounced /saʊθˈwɛst/.
- What is the plural of southwest?
- The plural of southwest is southwests.
Words near southwest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: southwest (page history and authors); Southwest (page history and authors); आग्नेय (Marathi) (page history and authors); southwest (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); southwest (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); southwest (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-southwest.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-southwest.wav.
Cite this entry: “southwest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/southwest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.