Meanings
comparative more northward · superlative most northward
- Situated or directed towards the north; moving or facing towards the north.
comparative more northward · superlative most northward
- Towards the north; in a northerly direction.
[T]he trees blew stedfastly one way, never writhing round, and scarcely tossing back their boughs once in an hour; so continuous was the strain bending their branchy heads northward— […]
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter X, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 255–2563 more examples
When she came, I could see at a glance she was tired and jaded and worried, and so, instead of letting her fret about in the hotel and get into a wearing tangle of gossip, I packed her and two knapsacks up, and started off on a long, refreshing, easy-going walk northward, until a blister on her foot stranded us at the Magenruhe Hotel on the Sneejoch.
1927 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Little Mother up the Möderberg”, in The Short Stories of H. G. Wells, London: Ernest Benn Limited […], →OCLC, page 641[…] we were driven a little to the Eaſt of the Molucca Iſlands, and about three Degrees Northward of the Line, as our Captain found by an Obſervation he took the 2d of May, at which time the Wind ceaſed, and it was a perfect Calm, whereat I was not a little rejoyced.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), pages 150–151Something must be done, and his sharp fox wits never stood him in better stead than they did on this memorable chase, for when the hounds came up to the stone wall they followed it for about thirty rods northward and then at a barway, an artificial break in the stone wall, the trail suddenly ended.
1927, Clarence Hawkes, “Chapter 11”, in Redcoat
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivemoving toward the north
nounthe cardinal compass point that is at 0 or 360 degrees
adverbin a northern direction
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*nér
- Proto-Indo-European*nŕ̥t(e)ros
- Proto-Germanic*nurþraz
- Proto-West Germanic*norþr
- Old Englishnorþ
- Middle Englishnorth
- Englishnorth
- Proto-Indo-European*wert-
- Proto-Germanic*wardaz
- Englishnorthward
Translations
Dutch noordwaarts
- noordwaartstowards the north
Esperanto norden
- nordentowards the north
German nordwärts
- nordwärtstowards the north
Hungarian északra, észak felé
- északratowards the north
- észak felétowards the north
Latvian uz ziemeļiem
- uz ziemeļiemtowards the north
Māori whakateraki
- whakaterakitowards the north
Russian к се́веру, на се́вер
- к се́веру (k séveru)towards the north
- на се́вер (na séver)towards the north
Swedish nordvart
- nordvarttowards the north
Ukrainian на пі́вніч
- на пі́вніч (na pívnič)towards the north
Cite this entry
northward. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/northward
“northward.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/northward. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “northward,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/northward.
Source: northward on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.