southwesterly C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities Also spelled south-westerly US /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstərli/ UK /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstəli/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj toward or coming from the southwest A brisk southwesterly wind pushed the clouds inland. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · toward or coming from the... southwesternsouthwestward ↔ Opposites northeasterly Word family Related forms southwestsouthwesternsouthwest Etymology AI details From southwest + -erly; southwest is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and west ('west'). sūþ Old English west Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # southwesterly **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstərli/ **IPA (UK):** /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstəli/ ## Meanings 1. toward or coming from the southwest ## Examples - A brisk southwesterly wind pushed the clouds inland. ## Synonyms - southwestern - southwestward ## Antonyms - northeasterly ## Related Forms - southwest - southwestern - south - west ## Roots and Affixes - Root: sūþ - Root: west ## Etymology From southwest + -erly; southwest is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and west ('west'). ## AI Etymology Southwesterly comes from southwest + -erly; southwest is a compound of Old English sūþ ('south') and west ('west'). The historical chain includes Old English sūþ and Old English west. Older glosses in the chain include "south" and "west", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, southwesterly is best read as compound and suffixal formation, yielding an English adjective and adverb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a adjective and adverb, with the sense "toward or coming from the southwest". related forms include southwest, southwestern, south, and west. The result is an English adjective and adverb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown