adj, adv, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The intercardinal compass point halfway between west and north; specifically at a bearing of 315°.
2. 2
   a location in the northwestern part of a country, region, or city wordnet
3. 3
   the compass point midway between north and west; at 315 degrees wordnet
4. 4
   the direction corresponding to the northwestward compass point wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   Of, in or pertaining to the northwest; northwestern. not-comparable, usually
2. 2
   Situated toward or in the direction of the northwest; northwestward; northwesterly. not-comparable, usually

   "a northwest course"

3. 3
   Coming from the northwest; northwesterly. not-comparable, usually

   "a northwest wind"

Adjective

1. 1
   situated in or oriented toward the northwest wordnet
2. 2
   coming from the northwest wordnet

Adverb

1. 1
   Towards or in the direction of the northwest; northwestwards. not-comparable, usually

   "We are travelling northwest at the moment."

Adverb

1. 1
   to, toward, or in the northwest wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

northeastnorthwesterlyantarcticarcticaustralboreal

Antonyms

All antonyms

southeast

Example

More examples

"In 2008, Delta and Northwest airlines united to form the world's largest airline."

Etymology

From Middle English northwest, from Old English norþwest, equivalent to north + west.

Related phrases

North WestNorthwest Arctic BoroughNorthwest GermanicNorthwest PassageNorthwest TerritoriesOld NorthwestPacific Northwestnorth by northwestnorth northwestnorth-northwestnorth-northwesterlynorth-northwestern

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.