🧭 A compass point 🧭 Toward that direction

north-northwest

3.4

Toward the direction halfway between north and northwest

adverb
/nɔrθ-nɔrθˈwɛst/

: hacia el noroeste

During our expedition, we navigated north-northwest using the compass.

Examples

To reach the campsite, we hiked north-northwest for several miles.
The ship sailed north-northwest to reach its destination.
He glanced at his compass and began walking north-northwest through the dense forest.
The hikers decided to travel north-northwest from the base camp to reach the summit.
The ship was headed north-northwest to avoid the storm.
We should head north-northwest from here.
The storm is expected to shift north-northwest as it approaches the coast.

Synonyms

NNW

vsnorth-northwest

3.9

A compass direction halfway between north and northwest at 337.5 degrees

is the full directional phrase written in words

nor'-nor'-west

vsnorth-northwest

Archaic

9.9

In the direction between north and northwest

is the standard written form without spoken-style apostrophes

Antonyms

south-southwest

1 4.3

Toward the point halfway between south and southwest

Surface Forms

north-northwest positive

Morphology

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

Formed by combining the compass points 'north' and 'northwest' with hyphenation; the directional adverbial sense is directly compositional.

Etymology

North-northwest describes movement toward the compass point between north and northwest. It repeats north to show the movement is closer to 'north' than to 'northwest', so it tells you to go slightly west of north.