Northward Meaning
/ˈnɔɹθwɚd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe direction or area lying to the north of a place.
adjSituated or directed towards the north; moving or facing towards the north.
Sentence Examples
The ship struck northward.
The ship continued northward.
There is a gradual cline of decreasing size to the northward.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In spring, the birds migrate ____ to their breeding grounds in Canada.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The birds begin their ____ migration as soon as the weather starts to warm up in spring.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nér Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *nŕ̥t(e)ros Proto-Germanic *nurþraz Proto-West Germanic *norþr Old English norþ Middle English north English north Proto-Indo-European *wert-der. Proto-Germanic *wardaz Old English -weard English -ward English northward From north + -ward.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"[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. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 255–256:
"[…] 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 150–151:
"Something 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:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In spring, the birds migrate ____ to their breeding grounds in Canada.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The birds begin their ____ migration as soon as the weather starts to warm up in spring.