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Glite Dictionary
WNW

WNW

1 4.1
A compass point halfway between west and northwest
  • noun
translation icon : ONO
  • Most budding storms track westward or WNW, so I was starting to worry as that trajectory would have brought it into the Gulf of Mexico most likely, and all my bacon is in the Western Gulf of Mexico.

Examples

  • The winds are weaker with Sandy, but it is still a beast as it slowly moves to the WNW.

    Blog text (4)

  • I come on WNW today and find out that Miz is on the verge of turning babyface.

    Blog text (16)

  • The storm is expected to move in a WNW direction, bringing heavy rainfall to the coast.

  • She noticed that the compass pointed to WNW as they navigated through the forest.

  • The weather forecast indicated that the winds would shift to WNW later in the day.

Synonyms

west-northwest
vsWNW
  • Specialized
2 2.5

A compass direction halfway between west and northwest

is the abbreviated form of the same compass point
northwest by west
vsWNW
  • Specialized
7.5

A compass direction slightly west of northwest, about 292 degrees

is the abbreviated form of the same compass point

Surface Forms

WNW singular
WNWs plural

Morphology

WNW = west-northwest (semi-transparent) = W + N + W

A standard initialism formed from the initial letters of the hyphenated term 'west-northwest', so the relation to the spelled-out term is direct and predictable. [Postprocessing: changed transparency from 'transparent' to 'semi-transparent' for abbreviation]

Etymology

WNW is a compass abbreviation made from W ('west') and NW ('northwest'). It marks the direction halfway between those points, so when a map or a ship shows WNW it means the place or wind lies between west and northwest.