Word.ws English Dictionary

thwart

/θwɔːt/US/θwɔɹt/

thwart adjective: placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.

Adjective

thwart (comparative more thwart, superlative most thwart)

  1. Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
    • Which elſe to ſeveral Sphears thou muſt aſcribe, / Mov'd contrarie with thwart obliquities, / Or ſave the Sun his labour, and that ſwift / Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb ſuppos'd, / Inviſible elſe above all Starrs, the Wheele / Of Day and Night; […]1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  2. (dated, figuratively) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.
    • […] harke Nature, heare deere Goddeſſe, ſuſpend thy purpoſe, if thou did'ſt intend to make this creature fruitful into her wombe, conuey ſterility, drie vp in hir the organs of increaſe, and from her derogate body neuer ſpring a babe to honour her, if ſhee muſt teeme, create her childe of ſpleene...c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […]...
    • […] and it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for...
  3. (dated, figuratively) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.

Adverb

thwart (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.
    • With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South / Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds / From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce / Forth ruſh the Levant and the Ponent VVindes / Eurus and Zephir with their lateral noiſe, / Sirocco, and Libecchio.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

Preposition

thwart

  1. (archaic, poetic) Across, athwart.

Verb

thwart (third-person singular simple present thwarts, present participle thwarting, simple past and past participle thwarted)

  1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
    • Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
    • The police thwarted the would-be assassin.
    Antonyms:
    promote
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
  3. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.
  4. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.
    • An arrow thwarts the air.
    • Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven / On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr / In Autumn thwarts the night, […]1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

Noun

thwart (plural thwarts)

  1. A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
    • The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.
    • When taking his seat in a boat, the learner should first observe that the thwart is firmly fixed, and that the mat upon it is securely tied to that part of it which is farthest from his rowlock.[1876–1879?], “Our Holiday. Rowing.—I.”, in The Popular Educator: A Complete Encyclopædia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education, new and revised edition, volume IV, London; New York, N.Y....
    Synonyms:
    thaught, thawt, thoft
  2. A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (“breadth”) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
    • A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.
    • A conſiderable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were ſecurely laſhed on each ſide, as a ſtrengthening to the boat [a canoe].1773, “Of the Canoes and Navigation of the Inhabitants of New Zealand; […]”, in John Hawkesworth, editor, An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making...
  3. (rare) An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.

thwart meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

thwart in Tamil

ஆர்வங்குலை, குறுக்கிட்டுத்தடு, தடை செய், முறியடி, படகு விசிப் பலகை

thwart in Urdu

thwart
ادھر سے ادھر idhar se udhar

thwart in Bengali

ক্রস, তির্যক, অনড়, বিকৃতমন, একগুঁয়ে, দুর্ভাগ্য

thwart in Malayalam

വിഫലപ്പെടുത്തുക, തകിടംമറിക്കുക, നിഷ്ഫലമാക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
thwart in Kannada
ಅಡ್ಡಿಹಾಕು, ಅಡ್ಡತೊಡರು, ಮುರಿ, ಕೆಡಿಸು
thwart in Odia
ଖଣ୍ଡିବା khaṇḍibā
thwart in Arabic
فَشَّلَ faššala, أَحْبَطَ ʔaḥbaṭa
thwart in Thai
ขัดขวาง kàt-kwǎang

Examples of thwart in a sentence

  • The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.1662 November 9, Robert South, “[Sermon II] A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul’s, November the 9th, 1662: Genesis i. 27....
  • Who am I— / Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy...
  • Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...
  • The film ends with the colorful deaths of Nico's enemies after he thwarts their attempts to assassinate a U.S.2004, Peter Bondanella, “Wise Guys: Hollywood Italian Gangsters”, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos...

All 34 example sentences with thwart

Synonyms of thwart

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of thwart

Forms of thwart

Adjective
comparativemore thwart
superlativemost thwart
Verb
third-person singular presentthwarts
present participlethwarting
past participlethwarted
pastthwarted
second-person singular present (archaic)thwartest
second-person singular past (archaic)thwartedst
third-person singular present (archaic)thwarteth
Noun
pluralthwarts

Origin of thwart

From Middle English thwerte, from the adjective thwert (“obstinate, perverse”), from Old Norse þvert, neuter of þverr (“transverse”). Cognates The English adjective is cognate with Danish tvær (“sullen, sulky”), Gothic 𐌸𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍃 (þwairhs, “angry”), Middle Dutch dwers, dwars (modern Dutch dwars (“crosswise, transverse; slantwise, askew; stubbornly disobedient”)), Norwegian tvert, tvært, Old Frisian þweres, dwers (Saterland Frisian twars, West Frisian dwers, dwerz (“across, to the other side of; beyond”)), Middle Low German dwers, dwars (Low German dwars (“contrary; cross-grained”)), Old English þweorh (“transverse; perverse; angry, cross”), Old High German twer (Middle High German twer, quer, modern German quer (“crosswise; cross”)), Swedish tvär (“across, transverse; of a curve: sharp; immediate, sudden; grumpy, stubborn”). It is related to queer; also Proto-West Germanic *þwerh,

Words formed from thwart

Words that rhyme with thwart

44 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about thwart

What does thwart mean?
Thwart means placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
What is thwart in Tamil?
Thwart in Tamil is ஆர்வங்குலை, குறுக்கிட்டுத்தடு, தடை செய். See Thwart meaning in Tamil.
How do you use thwart in a sentence?
The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.
What part of speech is thwart?
Thwart can be an adjective, an adverb, a preposition or a verb.
How do you pronounce thwart?
Thwart is pronounced /θwɔːt/ (UK).

Words near thwart in the dictionary

  1. Thwaiteses
  2. thwap
  3. thwapped
  4. thwapping
  5. thwaps
  6. thwart
  7. thwartable
  8. thwarted
  9. thwartedly
  10. thwartedness
  11. thwartedst

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thwart (page history and authors); thwart (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ادھر سے ادھر (Urdu) (page history and authors); thwart (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thwart (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); thwart (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଖଣ୍ଡିବା (Odia) (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: En-uk-thwart.oga.

Cite this entry: “thwart.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thwart. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.