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west

  (wĕst) pronunciation
n.
  1. (Abbr. W)
    1. The cardinal point on the mariner's compass 270° clockwise from due north and directly opposite east.
    2. The direction opposite to the direction of the earth's axial rotation.
  2. An area or region lying in the west.
  3. often West
    1. The western part of the earth, especially Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
    2. The western part of a region or country.
  4. often West
    1. A historical region of the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains.
    2. The region of the United States west of the Mississippi River.
    3. The United States, Canada, and the noncommunist countries of Europe, especially during the Cold War.
    4. The nations of North America and Europe with developed capitalist economies, especially in contrast to less-developed nations.
adj.
  1. To, toward, of, facing, or in the west.
  2. Originating in or coming from the west: a gentle west wind.
adv.

In, from, or toward the west.

[Middle English, from Old English.]


 
 

As the neatest term available to refer to Western Europe, the United States, and other countries of European settlement in one breath, the word connotes an ideal of secular and democratic liberalism and economic growth which peoples in Russia, Turkey, China, and elsewhere have pursued and rejected by turns throughout the modern period. This was subsequently overlaid, from the later 1940s, by Cold War ideological and military rivalry between an avowedly communist East under Soviet and Chinese leadership and a West, now clearly centred upon the United States, in which the values of consumerism, economic growth, and personal liberty assumed heightened prominence. It is against this supposedly degenerate modern culture, in the aftermath of the Cold War, that Islamic states as varied as Iran and Saudi Arabia have continued to define themselves, though without abandoning the standards of technological and military sophistication and material well-being first achieved in the West.

— Charles Jones

 
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: The direction directly opposite of the east.

pronunciation It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries. — John Masefield (1878-1967).

 
Quotes About: The West

Quotes:

"You in the West have a problem. You are unsure when you are being lied to, when you are being tricked. We do not suffer from this; and unlike you, we have acquired the skill of reading between the lines." - Zdenek Urbanak

"You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don't you use them in the search for love?" - Lech Walesa

 
Wikipedia: West
A compass rose with west highlighted
Enlarge
A compass rose with west highlighted
This article refers to the cardinal direction; for other uses see West (disambiguation).

West is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.

West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and at right angles to north and south.

By convention, the left side of a map is west.

To go west using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 270°.

West is the direction towards which the sun sets at the equinox, and therefore the direction opposite that of the Earth's rotation.

Moving continuously west is following a circle of latitude, which, except in the case of the equator, is not a great circle.

The English word "west" is cognate to the Old High German word westar, which may derive from an Indo-European root from which the Latin word vesper, meaning "evening", derives.

"The West" often denotes the Western world. Although a somewhat subjective term (see North-South divide), it always includes Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.[citation needed]

Symbolic meanings

In Chinese Buddhism, the West represents movement toward the Buddha or enlightenment (see Journey to the West). The ancient Aztecs believed that the West was the realm of the great goddess of water, mist, and maize. In Ancient Egypt, the West was considered to be the portal to the netherworld, and is the cardinal direction regarded in connection with death, though not always with a negative connotation. Ancient Egyptians also believed that the Goddess Amunet was a personification of the West.[1] The Celts believed that beyond the western sea off the edges of all maps lay the Otherworld, or Afterlife.

In American literature (eg. The Great Gatsby), moving west symbolizes gaining freedom, perhaps as an association with the settling of the Old West (see also Manifest Destiny).

References

  1. ^ Campbell, Joseph. The Mythic Image. Princeton University Press, 1981.

nrm:Vouêtcu:Западъzh-yue:西


 
Translations: Translations for: West

Dansk (Danish)
n. - vest
adj. - vestlig, vestre, vesten-, vest-
adv. - vestpå, imod vest

idioms:

  • West Indian    vestindisk

Nederlands (Dutch)
west, westen

Français (French)
n. - ouest, (Géog, Pol) l'Ouest, l'Occident, ouest (aux cartes)
adj. - ouest, d'ouest
adv. - vers l'ouest, à l'ouest

idioms:

  • West Indian    Antillais, antillais

Deutsch (German)
n. - Westen
adj. - westlich, West-
adv. - nach Westen

idioms:

  • West Indian    Westinder, westindisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (η) δύση, οι δυτικές περιοχές ή χώρες
adj. - δυτικός, της δύσης
adv. - προς τη δύση, δυτικά

idioms:

  • West Indian    κάτοικος των Δυτικών Ινδιών (των Αντιλλών)

Italiano (Italian)
verso l'Ovest, occidente, occidentale

idioms:

  • West Indian    originario delle Antille

Português (Portuguese)
n. - oeste (m), ocidente (m)
adj. - ocidente, do oeste
adv. - para o ocidente

idioms:

  • West Indian    habitante das Antilhas

Русский (Russian)
запад, западные районы, западные штаты, страны Западной Европы и Северной Америки, западный ветер, западный, обращенный к западу, на запад

idioms:

  • West Indian    уроженец Вест-Индии, вест-индский

Español (Spanish)
n. - oeste, occidente
adj. - del oeste, occidental
adv. - hacia el oeste, en el oeste

idioms:

  • West Indian    antillano

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - väster
adj. - västra, västlig, väst-
adv. - västerut, väster

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
西方, 西部, 西方的, 向西的, 向西方

idioms:

  • West Indian    西印度群岛的

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 西方, 西部
adj. - 西方的, 向西的
adv. - 向西方

idioms:

  • West Indian    西印度群島的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 서쪽, 서부지방, (교회당의) 서쪽
adj. - 서쪽의, 서양의, 서부의
adv. - 서쪽에

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 西インド諸島人, 西, 西部地方, 米国西部, 西洋, 西側
adj. - 西の, 西部の, 西からの
adv. - 西に

idioms:

  • West Indian    西インド諸島の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الغرب (صفه) غربي (ظرف) غربا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מערב‬
adj. - ‮מערבי, מערבה, במערב, למערב, ממערב‬
adv. - ‮במערב, מערבה, מערבית ל-‬


 
Best of the Web: West

Some good "west" pages on the web:


American Sign Language
commtechlab.msu.edu
 
 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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