southwest
[south-west; Nautical sou-west]
- the point or direction midway between south and west. Abbreviation: SW
- a region in this direction.
- the Southwest, the southwest region of the United States.
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- lying toward, situated in, or directed toward the southwest.
- coming from the southwest, as a wind.
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- in the direction midway between south and west.
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Origin of southwest
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for southwestern
Contemporary Examples
Virtually all the southwestern gangs of Mexican heritage (Surenos or Southsiders) are under their control.
Languishing in a prison cell in southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, 21-year-old Razie Ebrahimi awaits her date with the gallows.
Nestled here, in the southwestern corner of the compound, is a heap of crumbling concrete.
President Xi Jinping joked that the air in Guizhou, a southwestern province, was so pure that it should be put up for sale.
The Gigafactory would be built somewhere in the southwestern U.S., and could employ up to 6,500 people.
Historical Examples
The Striped Racer of the southwestern states is very long and slender.
PathfinderAlan Douglas
The southwestern corner of Wisconsin is a geologic curiosity.
Project MastodonClifford Donald Simak
On the southwestern tip of the reef they discovered a possible opening.
Storm Over WarlockAndre Norton
Nĕs' tor—the leader of the warriors of Pylos, in southwestern Greece.
Py' los—a town (and bay) in the southwestern part of lower Greece.
southwest
- the point of the compass or the direction midway between west and south, 225° clockwise from north
- (often cap usually preceded by the) any area lying in or towards this direction
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- (sometimes capital) of or denoting the southwestern part of a specified country, area, etcsouthwest Italy
- situated in or towards the southwest
- (esp of the wind) from the southwest
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- in, to, towards, or (esp of the wind) from the southwest
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Symbol: SW
Southwest
- the Southwest the southwestern part of Britain, esp Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for southwestern
adj.
Old English suðwesterne; see southwest + -ern. In reference to a section of the U.S., from 1806, when it meant "Mississippi and Alabama."
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southwest
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper