Word.ws English Dictionary

widdershins

Syllables: wid·der·shinsUK/ˈwɪ.də.ʃɪnz//ˈwɪ.dɚ.ʃɪnz/

widdershins adverb: anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.

Adverb

widdershins (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, now chiefly fantasy or witchcraft) Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.
    • It is unlucky to walk widdershins around a church.
    • If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or...1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3
  2. (Scotland) The wrong way.

widdershins meaning in Tamil and Bengali

widdershins in Tamil

வலஞ்சுற்றி

widdershins in Bengali

ঘড়ির কাঁটার বিপরীতে, ভুল দিকে

Examples of widdershins in a sentence

  • Now while they rested, a flittermouse flew forth from the Witchland booths and went widdershins round the wrastling ground and so returned silently whence she came.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 22:
  • "Widdershins, brother!" said Catweazle impatiently.1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, published 1984, page x. 136:
  • The next hour wedge in a counterclockwise (or widdershins) direction, between 8:00 and 7:00 is the 2nd house.1995, Estelle Daniels, Astrologickal Magick, Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 23:
  • I like to carry the incense widdershins around the room (widdershins being the direction of banishing) and then also run the incense widdershins around windows, doors, and mirrors.2002, Laura Perry, The Wiccan Wellness Book: Natural Healthcare for Mind, Body, and Spirit, Career Press, →ISBN, page 87:

Antonyms of widdershins

Forms of widdershins

alternative uncommonwithershins
alternative form (archaic)widdersins
alternative form (archaic)withersins
alternative form (archaic)widishins

Origin of widdershins

First use appears c. 1513, from Middle Low German weddersins (also wēder-, -sinnes), from wed(d)der- (“wither-, against, opposite”) + genitive of sin (“direction, way”).

Questions about widdershins

What does widdershins mean?
Widdershins means anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.
What is widdershins in Tamil?
Widdershins in Tamil is வலஞ்சுற்றி. See Widdershins meaning in Tamil.
How do you use widdershins in a sentence?
Now while they rested, a flittermouse flew forth from the Witchland booths and went widdershins round the wrastling ground and so returned silently whence she came.
What part of speech is widdershins?
Widdershins is an adverb.
How do you pronounce widdershins?
Widdershins is pronounced /ˈwɪ.də.ʃɪnz/ (UK).

Words near widdershins in the dictionary

  1. Widden
  2. widder
  3. widderer
  4. widderers
  5. widders
  6. widdershins
  7. widdersins
  8. Widdicombe
  9. Widdicombes
  10. widdies
  11. Widdison

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: widdershins (page history and authors); widdershins (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); widdershins (Bengali 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-widdershins.ogg.

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