Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Opposing act or action; whatever frustrates or baffles or tends to defeat one's purposes, wishes, designs, etc.
  • Perverse; contrary.

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

  • verb Present participle of thwart.
  • noun An instance of blocking or obstructing.

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

  • noun an act of hindering someone's plans or efforts
  • adjective preventing realization or attainment of a desire

Etymologies

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Examples

  • However, insofar as we can listen to the voices of the people through Bruce's reporting, this conflict between state and popular power is what they identify as thwarting them!

    New on venezuelanalysis.com Michael A. Lebowitz - Monthly Review 2010

  • He villainously congratulates himself upon his discerning quick thoughts in thwarting his aged friendrecalling after villains identical to Richard of Gloucester as good as Iago who revel in their dastardly betrayal of those who trust them.

    Philadelphia Reflections: Shakspere Society of Philadelphia admin 2009

  • If history is any guide, perpetuating the myth of the mancession could very well exact a price: not only in thwarting long overdue discussions of a jobs agenda that is fair and equitable across the board, but in preventing a more frank coming to terms with the cultural anxieties -- and politics -- that prevent us from articulating, and embracing, a more realistic, equitable, and genuinely shared breadwinner ideal.

    Alice O'Connor: The Myth of the Mancession? Women & the Jobs Crisis -- Fact, Fiction, and Female Unemployment Alice O'Connor 2010

  • A multimillion dollar consulting and legal industry has grown up that specializes in thwarting unions, using every tactic available, legal and otherwise.

    Republicans Criticize Solis’s Support for Union Bill - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2009

  • If history is any guide, perpetuating the myth of the mancession could very well exact a price: not only in thwarting long overdue discussions of a jobs agenda that is fair and equitable across the board, but in preventing a more frank coming to terms with the cultural anxieties -- and politics -- that prevent us from articulating, and embracing, a more realistic, equitable, and genuinely shared breadwinner ideal.

    Alice O'Connor: The Myth of the Mancession? Women & the Jobs Crisis -- Fact, Fiction, and Female Unemployment Alice O 2010

  • Friendship aside, the 47-year-old Spagnuolo played an integral role in thwarting the New England Patriots 'perfect season in last year's Super Bowl and had another successful year last season despite dealing with injuries to key personnel.

    Rams pluck Spagnuolo from 'head of the class' as next coach 2009

  • "How you can say we are thwarting is beyond me," Kohnke said.

    Oil Spill Panel: Transocean Thwarts Efforts To Get Critical Documents, Witness AP 2010

  • He villainously congratulates himself upon his discerning quick thoughts in thwarting his aged friendrecalling after villains identical to Richard of Gloucester as good as Iago who revel in their dastardly betrayal of those who trust them.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • Historians generally talk about how extremely conservative and backward the Court was, in thwarting the "progressive" New Deal.

    All Depression, All the Time, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • I find it strange that Joshua Green holds up Jimmy Carter as a champion of clean energy (“The Elusive Green Revolution,” July/August Atlantic), since his policy of banning the commercial reprocessing and recycling of nuclear fuel was instrumental in thwarting the growth of the industry with the greatest potential for replacing carbon-emitting electrical power plants in the U.S. — nuclear energy.

    Letters to the Editor 2009

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  • "VOLUMNIA: You might have been enough the man you are

    With striving less to be so: lesser had been

    The thwartings of your dispositions, if

    You had not show'd them how ye were dispos'd,

    Ere they lack'd power to cross you."

    - William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'.

    August 28, 2009