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• southwest
  southwest

  noun

  the point or direction midway between south and west. SW
• Southwest
  Southwest

  noun

  the southwestern part of Britain, esp Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset

southwest

American  

[south-west, sou-west] / ˌsaʊθˈwɛst, ˌsaʊˈwɛst /

noun

1. the point or direction midway between south and west. SW

2. a region in this direction.

3. the Southwest, the southwest region of the United States.

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adjective

1. lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the southwest.

2. coming from the southwest, as a wind.

adverb

1. in the direction midway between south and west.

southwest ¹ British  

/ ˌsaʊˈwɛst, ˌsaʊθˈwɛst /

noun

1. the point of the compass or the direction midway between west and south, 225° clockwise from north

2. any area lying in or towards this direction

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adjective

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

   southwest Italy

2. situated in or towards the southwest

3. (esp of the wind) from the southwest

adverb

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

Southwest ² British  

/ ˌsaʊθˈwɛst /

noun

1. the southwestern part of Britain, esp Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset

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Other Word Forms

• southwestern
  adjective
• southwesternmost
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of southwest

before 900; Middle English; Old English sūthwest. See south, west

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

southwest Southwest

Families fleeing fighting in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi in Taiz governorate in Yemen's southwest took refuge at Al-Bareen camp for the internally displaced on Saturday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

Similar feelings are strong on other islands of Japan’s southwest, such as Okinawa, Ishigaki and Yonaguni.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Spanish Maritime Rescue teams located the vessel some 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria's coastal town of Arguineguín on Wednesday and found 44 survivors, with five dead bodies also on board.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

By Sunday, Marie is expected to be about 775 miles southwest of San Diego.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

The sky to the southwest burns pink, and every so often there’s a break in the mist, leaving a stained-glass reflection on the surface of the lake.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, directs the mission via Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, who leads the science team, payload operations, and science planning.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

For decades, cartoon canine Wile E. Coyote has been pursuing the Road Runner throughout the American Southwest, aiming to eat him and getting blown up in the process.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

For decades, cartoon canine Wile E. Coyote has been pursuing the speeding bird throughout the American Southwest, aiming to eat him and getting blown up in the process.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Southwest executives spent months visiting lounges to figure out what works and how to avoid potential pitfalls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

In contrast, most ancient Southwest Asian crops exhibit just one of the alternative wild variants or alternative transforming mutations, suggesting that all modern varieties of that particular crop stem from only a single domestication.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond