↙️ Toward southwest 🧭 A compass direction

southwestward

1 2.7

Toward the southwest

adverb
/ˌsaʊθˈwɛstwərd/

: suroeste

During this southwestward March, hubris and lack of discipline began to plague the army.

Examples

Ben joined a migratory stream of aspiring cotton planters flowing southwestward into Washington County, part of post-Revolutionary Georgia's frontier lands in the state's center.

Academic text (2011)
The hiking trail winds southwestward through the forest and eventually leads to a beautiful viewpoint.
Together now, at the same instant, they see a meteor directly overhead, streaking southwestward as though through the constellations.

Fiction book (1995)
The storm is moving steadily southwestward toward the city, prompting evacuation orders.
As the sun set, the flock of birds flew southwestward in search of warmer climates.

Synonyms

south-west

vssouthwestward

1.0

Toward the south and west

is the same meaning but written without a hyphen

southwestwardly

vssouthwestward

6.5

In the direction between south and west

is the same meaning but without the adverbial ending

sou'west

vssouthwestward

Archaic

9.6

Toward the direction between south and west

is the same meaning but in an uncontracted standard form

Antonyms

northeastward

1 3.2

In the direction halfway between north and east on a compass

Surface Forms

southwestward positive

Morphology

southwestward = southwest (transparent) = south + west + ward

Formed from the clear compound 'south' + 'west' (southwest) with the directional suffix '-ward' meaning 'toward', yielding a literal directional adverb.

Etymology

Southwestward is made from south and west plus the ending -ward, which means 'toward'. So it simply means to move or point 'toward the southwest'.