Widdershins

//ˈwɪ.dɚ.ʃɪnz// adv

adv ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise. not-comparable

    "It is unlucky to walk widdershins around a church."

  2. 2
    The wrong way. not-comparable, obsolete

Synonyms

All synonyms
a reboursa reculonsagainst the grainanticlockwiseareararound

Example

More examples

"It is unlucky to walk widdershins around a church."

Etymology

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”).

Related phrases

counter clockwise

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