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northerly

adjective · adverb · noun

Simple meaning

Facing towards the colder direction.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

nawthuhlee

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈnɔːðəli

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Facing the north; directed towards the north.

  2. Located in a northern region

  3. Coming from the north.

adverb

  1. In an northward direction or position; (towards the) north.

  2. From the north.

noun

  1. A wind blowing from the north.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Facing the north; directed towards the north.

Used this way, northerly is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Facing / northward

northerly directionnortherly point

Located

northerly side

Wind

northerly wind

Other combinations

northerly coursethence northerlynortherly partnortherly route

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • northward

    Situated or directed towards the north.

  • north

    Toward the north; northward.

  • northern

    Of, facing, situated in, or related to the north.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: facing the north

northwardnorthernnorth

adverb

Sense: in an northward direction or position

northwardnorthnorthwards

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.