western

comparative more western · superlative most western · superlative westernmost · alternative Western

1. Of, facing, situated in, or related to the west.

   the western approaches

   1 more example

   Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. Of a wind, blowing from the west; westerly.
3. Occidental.

   1 more example

   Japanese is traditionally written downwards (tategaki) and you begin reading from the top right of a page. This means that books are opened from what we would consider to be the back. Nowadays, however, books, newspapers and magazines are often written western style, in horizontal lines (yokogaki) from left to right and, in these cases, the book is opened from our (western) understanding of the front.

   2008, Helen Gilhooly, chapter 1, in Complete Japanese, →ISBN, page 31

plural westerns · alternative Western

1. broadcastingA film, or some other dramatic work, set in, the historic (c. 1850–1910) American West (west of the Mississippi river) focusing on conflict between whites and Indians, lawmen and outlaws, ranchers and farmers, or industry (railroads, mining) and agriculture.

   Synonyms: horse opera, oater

comparative more Western · superlative most Western

1. Of, situated in, or related to the West (in any sense thereof).
   1. Of or pertaining to the cultures and traditions of the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand (the West).

      As Western culture became increasingly mechanized in the 1600s, the female earth and virgin earth spirit were subdued by the machine.

      1989, Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution, page 2

      2 more examples

      He would be as happy with her as he would be with Jennie—almost—and he would have the satisfaction of knowing that this Western social and financial world held no more significant figure than himself.

      1911, Theodore Dreiser, chapter LVI, in Jennie Gerhardt

      Born in Penglai, on the coast of Shandong, in 1888, Miss Pruitt grew up in an inland village where for many years hers was the only Western family.

      1985 August 11, Robert D. McFadden, “Ida Pruitt, 96, who fostered friendship with the Chinese”, in The New York Times (Section 1 section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015, page 36

      Antonyms: non-Western

   2. historicalOf or pertaining to the Western Bloc.

      Antonyms: non-Western

   3. Of or pertaining to the western United States (the West).

      He was not the first Northeastern banker to be surprised by what he saw when he stepped off the train into this Western city.

      Antonyms: non-Western

   4. South KoreaOriginating from Europe.

      Antonyms: non-Western

plural Westerns

1. datedAn inhabitant of a western region or country.

   If, again, after studying the life and words of Christ, and comparing them with the Christianity which they see practised in the West, or in the Westerns who reside among them, they are not drawn to Western Christianity […]

   1909, Theodore Leighton Pennell, Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier

   Synonyms: Westerner, westerner

2. A certain genre of fiction (in literature, film, or gaming) dealing with the American Old West; a work in this genre.

   If I'm going to watch a Western, it needs to be a good one. I had my fill of the bad ones long ago.

1. A surname.
2. A village in Saline County, Nebraska, United States.
3. A town in Oneida County, New York, United States.