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Glite Dictionary
west southwest

west southwest

1 3.0
A direction halfway between west and southwest on a compass
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : oeste-suroeste
  • After sunset, look towards the west southwest to see Venus shining brightly in the sky.
  • west southwest 30 minutes
  • west southwest of the star
  • west southwest an hour

Examples

  • Heading west-southwest?

    Waterworld (1995)

  • West-southwest, round this point I guess.

    A Perfect Getaway (2009)

  • If the wind's still blowing out from the west, southwest it's in direct line from Crewe.

    Threads (1984)

  • Jupiter lies low in the west-southwest as darkness falls in October.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Murjan was moving to the west-southwest at 12 knots (13.8 mph/22.2 kph).

    Blog text (4)

  • The hiking trail leads west southwest through the forest, offering stunning views of the mountains.

  • At dusk, the stars begin to appear in the west southwest as the sun sets in the opposite direction.

Synonyms

WSW
vswest southwest
  • Specialized
7.4

A compass direction halfway between west and southwest

is the full phrase form rather than the letter abbreviation

Surface Forms

west southwest singular
west southwests plural

Morphology

west + southwest

The meaning 'the compass point midway between west and southwest' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'west' and 'southwest' — a learner who knows both terms can infer it denotes the intermediate bearing (247.5°). Compass-naming conventions that combine directional words are cross-linguistically common, so this formation is predictable and readily understandable to B1 learners.

Etymology

West southwest comes from the simple idea of a compass: it is the point halfway between west and southwest on a map or compass. So, the name means the 'direction between west and southwest' and is used when you want that exact middle direction.