Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective Toward, to, or in the south.
  • noun A southward direction, point, or region.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Lying or situated toward the south; directed or leading toward the south.
  • noun The southern part; the south; the south end or side.
  • Toward the south; toward a point nearer the south than the east or the west. Also southwards.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Toward the south.
  • adverb Toward the south, or toward a point nearer the south than the east or west point.
  • noun The southern regions or countries; the south.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The direction or area lying to the south of a place.
  • adjective Situated or directed towards the south; moving or facing towards the south.
  • adverb Towards the south; in a southerly direction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb toward the south
  • noun the cardinal compass point that is at 180 degrees
  • adjective moving toward the south

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

south +‎ -ward

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Examples

  • The southern Atlantic and Caribbean areas (including the Yucatan peninsula) are heavily influenced by periodic weather fronts that race southward from the US.

    The Mexican Climate - A Thumbnail Guide 2006

  • The exception to this is the narrow Isthmus of Tehuantepec where fierce northerly winds carry hot moist air southward from the Gulf of Mexico.

    The Mexican Climate - A Thumbnail Guide 2006

  • The exception to this is the narrow Isthmus of Tehuantepec where fierce northerly winds carry hot moist air southward from the Gulf of Mexico.

    The Mexican Climate - A Thumbnail Guide 2006

  • The southern Atlantic and Caribbean areas (including the Yucatan peninsula) are heavily influenced by periodic weather fronts that race southward from the US.

    The Mexican Climate - A Thumbnail Guide 2006

  • In the aftermath of the landing, some 180,000 Greek Cypriot refugees fled southward from the Turkish-held region.

    1960, Aug. 16 2001

  • Let us briefly recall a few of the contrasts between conditions northward and southward from the international boundary

    Canada Turning the Corner 1929

  • Looking southward from the old windmill, whose supports sheltered us on that cold spring afternoon, I knew that, past Bailleul, and past Neuve Chapelle, I was looking straight toward Albert and the Somme, and I knew too that it was there that the British were taking over a new portion of the line, – so that we might be of some increased support – all that was then allowed us by the Allied Command!

    England's Effort: Letters to an American Friend 1916

  • Starting southward from the cross-roads, the character of the country underwent so sudden a transformation that it looked as if man, having contended here unsuccessfully with nature, had signed an ignominious truce beneath the crumbling gateposts of the turnpike.

    The Miller of Old Church 1911

  • There is no cedar very near us; the white cedar, or cypress, is found about eight or nine miles to the northward, and still farther in that direction it is very abundant, but along the course of the river, southward from the lake, to a distance of more than a hundred miles, we do not remember to have seen it.

    Rural Hours 1887

  • And then the village, with its buildings and gardens covering the level bank to the southward, is charmingly placed, the waters spreading before it, a ridge of hills rising on either side, this almost wholly wooded, that partly tilled, while beyond lies a background, varied by nearer and farther heights.

    Rural Hours 1887

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