Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a contrary or counterclockwise direction: "The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins” ( Anthony Bailey).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- See withershins.
Wiktionary
- adv. The wrong way.
- adv. Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.
Etymologies
- Middle Low German weddersinnes, from Middle High German widersinnes : wider, back (from Old High German widar; see wi- in Indo-European roots) + sinnes, in the direction of (from sin, direction, from Old High German; see sent- in Indo-European roots).
Examples
“We move naturally in a circle around the grave, going to the left, facing outward—what we call widdershins.”
“Move clockwise, called deosil, to charge up with energy, and move counterclockwise, called widdershins, to banish energy!”
“More interestingly, the old (especially Scottish) word widdershins or withershins, etymologically suggesting ` a contrary direction, 'similarly refers to a movement against the apparent course of the sun and therefore considered unlucky or unnatural.”
“I can't remember the last time I heard the word "widdershins" outside of a fairy tale, but reading it had a big impact on how I read the novel and read the characters.”
“Plus, you know, it's just fun to say "widdershins" over and over.”
“As the dancers faced outwards, this would mean that they moved 'widdershins', i.e. against the sun.”
“House, that is walking "widdershins" or "against the sun" ( "with the sun" being like the movement of a watch).”
“To cast a successful love spell, he says, one must circle such trees "widdershins”
“The stingy butter fell a bit over the shelf and I stayed just widdershins to the beam and flipped my nossly nossler, not before a couple turns of the head, mind you.”
“Sometimes he walked clockwise into Bayswater, down to the Bayswater Road and home again, sometimes widdershins, in a loop up to Campden Hill and back to the high street.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘widdershins’.
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Very Silly Words
A list of very silly sounding words, as well as words that are fun to say
badot, gardyloo, dingbat, gaffer, kine, haberdashery, forsooth, whey-faced, hoddypeak, brouhaha, widdershins, decemnovenarianize and 115 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Nycanthro's list
I like words. Have kept running lists for years now. If I'd been born wealthy I'd be a linguist. Or maybe a semi-reclusive yet world-weary linguist-humanitarian-hiphop-icon known for his humility a...
oaktag, backstory, homonormative, gobshite, imagineer, comeuppance, tomfoolery, ersatz, widdershins, gigajoule, oneupmanship, conniption and 40 more...
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[Open] Excellent Potential Cat Names
Please use the lowercase form of words that don’t usually appear as proper names (unless the word should be capitalized for other reasons). Words that are used primarily or exclusively as names (e...
domovoi, домово́й, Schroedinger, Feral, debulition, zenzizenzizenzic, Schrödinger, zenzizenzic, snarf, crepuscular ray, crepusculum, hell and 23 more...
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Auf German
Amish, Dutch, Alsatians, Swiss, Sprachens etc.
stopfgarn, remmidemmi, pfundig, prätentiös, gingernillis, knuffig, larifari, funzel, wonneproppen, blödsinn, knäppchen, gezóndheid and 23 more...
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[Open] Sinister Ascriptions
These words either descend from a word or root referring to the left side or direction (e.g., “sinister”) or refer to the concept themselves. Many, but not all, have negative connotations.
sinister, sinistral, gauche, bend sinister, bar sinister, sinister-handed, sinisterly, oculus sinister, ambisinister, sinister base, sinister aspect, ramus sinister and 43 more...
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scots words
gowk, wellkenspeckled, dowie, crivvens, clashmaclavers, kludgie, perjink, puddock, well-kenspeckled, gaberlunzie, wheesht, thrawn and 65 more...
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Bring These Words Back
Antiquated words that need to yet again become part of our daily parlance.
vviddershins This word means to move in a direction opposite to the sun, or counterclockwise. Mar 4, 2009
johnmperry The opposite of clockwise
name of a book by Oliver Onions Jun 20, 2008
widdershins yey! Dec 22, 2007
oroboros This is the way to open a jar of peeniebunkle! Sep 29, 2007
man Antonym deasil.
Dec 17, 2006