Jump To:

• 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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

Based in Stephenville, the school is nearly two hours southwest of Dallas and has historically been a specialty spot for Texans to study agriculture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Conditions are expected to gradually improve from the southwest during Sunday afternoon as the strongest winds begin to ease.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 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

Some of these involved risks related to national security and other concerns, including transactions "indicative of Chinese money laundering networks" and illicit finance around the southwest US border.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

He led Officer Delinko to the southwest corner of the site, where a flatbed truck was parked.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

United, American, Southwest and even Frontier are all in, each trying to get it on the most planes the fastest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 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

Chief Executive Bob Jordan said demand was strong and Southwest has completed its transformation strategy, which did away with its open-seating model.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Halfway around the world, in the American Southwest, there was then a high culture, rich in astronomical tradition, that also witnessed this brilliant new star.'

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---