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• northwest
  northwest

  noun

  a point on the compass midway between north and west. NW
• Northwest
  Northwest

  noun

  the northwestern part of England, esp Lancashire and the Lake District

northwest

American  

[nawrth-west, nawr-west] / ˌnɔrθˈwɛst, ˌnɔrˈwɛst /

noun

1. a point on the compass midway between north and west. NW

2. a region in this direction.

3. the Northwest,

   1. the northwestern part of the United States, especially Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

   2. the northwestern part of the United States when its western boundary was the Mississippi River.

   3. the northwestern part of Canada.

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adjective

1. coming from the northwest.

   a northwest wind.

2. directed toward the northwest.

   sailing a northwest course.

adverb

1. from the northwest.

2. toward the northwest.

   sailing northwest.

northwest ¹ British  

/ ˌnɔːθˈwɛst, ˌnɔːˈwɛst /

noun

1. the point of the compass or direction midway between north and west, 315° clockwise from north

2. (often capital) any area lying in or towards this direction

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adjective

1. (sometimes capital) of or denoting the northwestern part of a specified country, area, etc

   northwest Greenland

adjective

1. in, to, towards, or (esp of the wind) from the northwest

Northwest ² British  

/ ˌnɔːθˈwɛst /

noun

1. the northwestern part of England, esp Lancashire and the Lake District

2. the northwestern part of the US, consisting of the states of Washington, Oregon, and sometimes Idaho

3. (in Canada) the region north and west of the Great Lakes

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Other Word Forms

• northwestern
  adjective
• northwesternmost
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of northwest

before 900; Middle English, Old English; see north, west

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

northwest Northwest

The ranch where she lives in Burnet County northwest of Austin, Texas, could be bisected by one of the high-voltage power lines proposed to crisscross the state.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Located 47 miles east of Los Angeles in the northwest corner of Riverside County, Jurupa Valley wasn’t incorporated as a city until 2011.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026

With the death toll still provisional, the crash is Spain's deadliest rail disaster since a derailment near Santiago de Compostela in the northwest killed 80 people in 2013.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

Daniels came to Springfield in 1988, a transplant, after growing in northwest Pennsylvania and working all over the heartland.

From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026

Clouds gathered, the sky purpled, and a breeze rose from the northwest.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Two ravens circled overhead, then flew Northwest, and on a whim I followed them.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

"It is a very specific place," said Knight, who lives in the Pacific Northwest city.

From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026

Special Forces preparing for Arctic warfare and spent weeks on a cargo ship navigating ice in the Northwest Passage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

To begin, we are in some mountainous slice of small-town Pacific Northwest, where the Canadian tax breaks call American producers across the 49th parallel and the landscape presses in from all sides.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026

The search for the Northwest Passage, or the attempt to explain planetary motion on the model of magnetism, were mistaken but useful.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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