English
thwart
Pronunciation Adjective

thwart

  1. place#Verb|Placed or situated across something else; cross#Adjective|cross, oblique, transverse.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 768–773:
      Which elſe to ſeveral spheres#English|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; [...]
  2. (figuratively, dated) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.
    Synonyms: cross-grained, froward, Thesaurus:obstinate
    • c. 1603–1606, [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: Printed for Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, OCLC 54196469 ↗, [Act I, scene iv] ↗:
      [H]arke 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
    • 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: Printed [by Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], OCLC 932932554 ↗, folio 11, recto ↗:
      [A]nd 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; [...]
  3. (figuratively, dated) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.
    Synonyms: unpropitious, untoward, Thesaurus:unlucky
Related terms Translations
  • Russian: неподдающийся
Adverb

thwart (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel#Noun|travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 701–706:
      With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South / Notus#English|Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds / From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce / Forth ruſh the levant#Etymology 2|Levant and the ponent#English|Ponent VVindes / Eurus#English|Eurus and Zephyr#English|Zephir with their lateral noiſe, / sirocco#English|Sirocco, and libecchio#English|Libecchio.
Preposition
  1. (archaic or poetic) Across, athwart.
Verb

thwart (thwarts, present participle thwarting; past and past participle thwarted)

  1. (transitive) To cause#Verb|cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
    Synonyms: balk, foil, spoil
    Antonyms: promote
    Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
    The police thwarted the would-be assassin.
    • 1590, T[homas] L[odge], “Alindas Comfort to Perplexed Rosalynd”, in Rosalynde. Euphues Golden Legacie: […], London: Imprinted by Thomas Orwin for T. G[ubbin] and John Busbie, OCLC 35072982 ↗; republished [Glasgow: Printed for the Hunterian Club, 1876], OCLC 9437712 ↗, folio 13, verso, page 34 ↗:
      If thou grieueſt that beeing the daughter of a Prince, and enuie thwarteth thée with ſuch hard exigents, thinke that royaltie is a faire marke; that Crownes haue croſſes when mirth is in Cottages; that the fairer the Roſe is, the ſooner it is bitten with Catterpillers; [...]
    • 1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy, Edinburgh: Printed [by Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Company; London: Simpkin and Marshall, OCLC 742335644 ↗, Act III, scene i, page 309 ↗:
      Hear ye the serf I bred, begin to reckon / Upon his rights and pleasure! Who am I— / Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071 ↗, page 361 ↗:
      Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To place#Verb|place (something) across (another thing); to position#Verb|position crosswise.
  3. (transitive, also, figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block#Verb|block, to impede, to oppose.
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:hinder
  4. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To move#Verb|move (something) across or counter#Adjective|counter to; to cross#Verb|cross.
    An arrow thwarts the air.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 555–557:
      Thither came Uriel#English|Uriel, gliding through the Eeven / On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr / In Autumn thwarts the night, [...]
Conjugation


Conjugation of thwart

infinitive (to) thwart
present tense past tense
1st-person singular thwartthwarted
2nd-person singular* thwart, thwartest*thwarted, thwartedst*
3rd-person singularthwarts, thwarteth* thwarted#English|thwarted
plural thwart
subjunctive thwart
imperative thwart —
participle> participlesthwartingthwarted
* Archaic or obsolete.

Translations Translations
  • Russian: пересекать
Noun

thwart (plural thwarts)

  1. (nautical) A seat#Noun|seat across a boat#Noun|boat on which a rower may sit.
    Synonyms: thaught, thawt, thoft
    The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.
  2. (nautical) A brace#Noun|brace, perpendicular#Adjective|perpendicular to the keel#Noun|keel, that helps maintain the beam of a marine vessel against external water#Noun|water pressure#Noun|pressure and that may serve to support#Verb|support the rail#Noun|rail.
    A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.
  3. (rare) An act#Noun|act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.
Translations Translations

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