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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  

[sauth-west, sau-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

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Etymology

Origin of southwest

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

southwest Southwest

But in rural Kagoshima, in Japan's southwest, it enabled Diane Tincher to buy a large three-bedroom house for about half of what would have otherwise been the asking price.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

With deep family roots in southwest Memphis, Pearson has positioned himself as the better fit for the historically Democratic Ninth Congressional District.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

The bank notes that Audi’s Neckarsulm plant in southwest Germany is one of four German Volkswagen plants facing possible closure after 2030.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

A 3.3-mile stretch of a branch line to be re-laid in Portishead, southwest England, required 79,187 pages of planning documents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Leading away from Brannock’s Post there was a double line heading down and to the southwest.

From "The River" by Gary Paulsen

Berlant was a collector of both ancient Southwest pottery and Paleolithic stone objects.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

The mystery resurfaced during the 1990s, when people in Yunnan, Southwest China, reported similar hallucinations after eating bolete mushrooms.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026

Plus, inside the California bullet-train debacle, how a disappearing Rio Grande is reshaping the Southwest, and why the U.S. wants to deploy floating nuclear reactors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

Nandika Suri, the new vice president of Southwest Airlines’ frequent flier program, brings homemade protein balls on the road with her.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Southwest, the llama / alpaca and the guinea pig in the Andes, the Muscovy duck in tropical South America, and the dog throughout the Americas.

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

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