withershins

W4I1T1H4E1R1S1H4I1N1S1

A form of widdershins — Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.

Scrabble 20
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Meanings

adverbwithershins (not comparable)
  1. alternativenot comparableAlternative spelling of widdershins (“anticlockwise”).

    Boils up their Livers in a Warlock's pow, Rins withershins about the Hemlock low

    1763, Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shephard
    1 more example

    The intellectual sweetness of those lines / That cut through time or cross it withershins.

    1933, W.B. Yeats, Coole Park, 1929

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
anticlockwisecounter-clockwisecounterclockwise

Origin

Alteration of widder- in widdershins (a borrowing from Middle Low German) after the English cognate form wither- (“against, anti-”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

withershins. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/withershins

MLA

“withershins.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/withershins. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “withershins,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/withershins.

Source: withershins on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.