thwart
/θwɔɹt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.06 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
Example Sentences
- "Which elſe to ſeveral Sphears thou muſt aſcribe, / Mov'd contrarie with thwart obliquities, / Or ſave the Sun his labour, and that ſwift / Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb ſuppos'd, / Inviſible elſe above all Starrs, the Wheele / Of Day and Night; […]"
- "[…] harke Nature, heare deere Goddeſſe, ſuſpend thy purpoſe, if thou did'ſt intend to make this creature fruitful into her wombe, conuey ſterility, drie vp in hir the organs of increaſe, and from her derogate body neuer ſpring a babe to honour her, if ſhee muſt teeme, create her childe of ſpleene, that it may liue and bee a thourt diſuetur'd^([sic – meaning disnatured]) torment to her, […]"
- "[…] and it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]"
- "With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South / Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds / From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce / Forth ruſh the Levant and the Ponent VVindes / Eurus and Zephir with their lateral noiſe, / Sirocco, and Libecchio."
- "Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm."
- "The police thwarted the would-be assassin."
Etymology
From Middle English thwerte, from the adjective thwert (“obstinate, perverse”), from Old Norse þvert, neuter of þverr (“transverse”). Cognates The English adjective is cognate with Danish tvær (“sullen, sulky”), Gothic 𐌸𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍃 (þwairhs, “angry”), Middle Dutch dwers, dwars (modern Dutch dwars (“crosswise, transverse; slantwise, askew; stubbornly disobedient”)), Norwegian tvert, tvært, Old Frisian þweres, dwers (Saterland Frisian twars, West Frisian dwers, dwerz (“across, to the other side of; beyond”)), Middle Low German dwers, dwars (Low German dwars (“contrary; cross-grained”)), Old English þweorh (“transverse; perverse; angry, cross”), Old High German twer (Middle High German twer, quer, modern German quer (“crosswise; cross”)), Swedish tvär (“across, transverse; of a curve: sharp; immediate, sudden; grumpy, stubborn”). It is related to queer; also Proto-West Germanic *þwerh,
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *terkʷ-, thwerte, þvert
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /θwɔɹt/
- British English: /θwɔːt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more thwart (comparative)
most thwart (superlative)
thwarts (present, singular)
thwarting (participle, present)
thwarted (participle, past)
thwarted (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
thwarted (first person, past)
thwartest (archaic, present)
thwarted (past, second person)
thwartedst (archaic, past)