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Glite Dictionary
🧭 A compass point 🧭 Toward that direction
north-northwest

north-northwest

1 3.6
The direction halfway between north and northwest
  • noun
  • /nɔrθ-nɔrθˈwɛst/
translation icon : noroeste
  • The prevailing winds on the coast blow from the north-northwest, and the California
  • miles north-northwest
  • degrees north-northwest

Examples

  • Three mountain ranges, trending south-southeast to north-northwest, cross Nepal and define its three principal regions (Fig. 1).

    Academic text (1990)

  • The first quake struck at 10:02 a.m. Sunday about three miles north-northwest of Brawley.

    Blog text (29)

  • A place... 205 miles north-northwest of Guam in the Marianas Islands.

    Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

  • I said I was, and he told me that the island in these photographs was located north-northwest of the Shetlands, an hour and a half's boat ride from the nearest human habitation.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The lighthouse stands about 15 miles north-northwest of the harbor entrance.

  • The hiking trail leads north-northwest for several miles before descending into the valley.

  • During the flight, we headed north-northwest to avoid bad weather coming from the south.

Synonyms

NNW
vsnorth-northwest
3.9

A compass direction halfway between north and northwest at 337.5 degrees

is the same compass point given in full words
nor'-nor'-west
vsnorth-northwest
  • Archaic
9.9

A compass point halfway between north and northwest

is the same compass point given by standard abbreviation and degrees

Antonyms

south-southwest
1 3.4

A direction halfway between south and southwest

Surface Forms

north-northwest singular
north-northwests plural

Morphology

north-northwest = north + northwest (transparent) = north + northwest

A hyphenated compass compound formed from 'north' + 'northwest'; its meaning is directly compositional for learners who know the component compass points.

Etymology

North-northwest names the compass point halfway between north and northwest. It repeats north to show it is closer to 'north' than to 'northwest', so the word gives a precise direction.