southwest

• south-west (UK)
• sou'-west (nautical)
• SW (abbreviation)

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.

• IPA^(key): /saʊθˈwɛst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (nautical, dialectal) IPA^(key): /saʊˈwɛst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst

southwest (plural southwests)

1. The intercardinal compass point halfway between south and west; specifically at a bearing of 225°.

   Antonym: northeast

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     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.

(compass points)

northwest	north	northeast
west		east
southwest	south	southeast

southwest (not generally comparable, comparative more southwest, superlative most southwest)

1. Of, in or pertaining to the southwest; southwestern.
2. Situated toward or in the direction of the southwest; southwestward; southwesterly.

   A southwest course.

3. Coming from the southwest; southwesterly.

   A southwest wind.

southwest (not generally comparable, comparative more southwest, superlative most southwest)

1. Towards or in the direction of the southwest; southwestwards.

   We are travelling southwest at the moment.