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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

His home in Giverny, northwest of the capital, bears ample witness to his success, especially his water and flower gardens, which he created from scratch and employed no fewer than five full-time gardeners to manage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

On a windy hillside about an hour's drive northwest of Istanbul, the Catalca power plant was one of Turkey's first large-scale wind farms and has been feeding electricity into the grid for 18 years.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026

Aman is also at work on a ranch-inspired retreat about 90 miles northwest of Austin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● 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

They chose a large, unoccupied mansion called Bush Hill, located on a rolling hill about two and a half miles northwest of the city.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

The region’s LNG imports were just 84% of their prewar average in October, Kpler said, while European Union gas storage was only 74.6% full, well below the seasonal average, amid colder temperatures in Northwest Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

The Northwest Correctional Complex is a men's prison with the capacity to hold up to 1,776 inmates, from low security to maximum, the BBC's partner CBS reported.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

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

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

“Office Ladies” inspired actor-musicians Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein to launch their own iHeart podcast revisiting their sketch comedy series “Portlandia,” which spoofed the hipster scene in the Pacific Northwest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

All these facts are known because the Fisheries Research Board of Canada had been conducting a salmon study on the Northwest Miramichi since 1950.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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