athwart
/əˈθwɔɹt/adverb, preposition
athwart is an adverb meaning “From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-T-H-W-A-R-T and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 22 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does athwart mean?
adverb
- 1
From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.
Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart.
- 2
Across the path of something, so as to impede progress.
a fleet standing athwart our course
- 3
Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.
preposition
- 1
From one side to the other side of; across.
The stars moved slowly athwart the sky.
- 2
Across the course or path of, so as to meet; hence (figuratively), to the attention of.
- 3
Across the course or path of, so as to oppose.
- 4
Across; through.
- 5
Opposed to.
- 6
Across the line of a ship's course, or across its deck.
The damaged mainmast fell athwart the deck, destroying the ship’s boat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce athwart?
- UK /əˈθwɔːt/
- US /əˈθwɔɹt/
Athwart has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-athwart.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of athwart
- more athwart comparative
- most athwart superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is athwart?
Athwart appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Athwart in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense from side to side, often in an oblique manner – see also across:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does athwart come from?
From Late Middle English athwert, athirt, from a- (prefix meaning ‘in the direction of, toward’) + thwert (“crosswise; (cooking) across the grain”, adverb).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).