southwesterly

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled south-westerly

US /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstərli/ UK /ˌsaʊθˈwɛstəli/ See IPA manual

adj adv

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... southwestern southwestward

Opposites

northeasterly

Word family

Related forms southwest southwestern south west

Etymology

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

# southwesterly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, adv
**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

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southwesterly

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