west
part of speech
noun (the west); adjective (west, western); adverb (west, westward)
meaning for a pupil
1) West is the direction where the sun goes down in the evening. tree →
2) The West is a part of a country or the world in the west, like the American West. tree →
3) A west wind blows from the west. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school maths: a direction of travel; distances in directions, east and west cancel partly. In geography: the four compass points north, east, south, west; maps have north at the top, so west is on the left. In stories: cowboys in the Wild West. Phrases: «to the west», «west of», «head west», «the West Coast», «the Wild West».
examples
- He walked 3 km west. tree →
- The town is 20 miles west of the city. tree →
- She drove east 10 miles and then west 4 miles. tree →
- How far is she from home? tree →
- The sun sets in the west. tree →
- On a map, west is on the left. tree →
- Perth is on the west coast of Australia. tree →
- A strong west wind blew the leaves away. tree →
note
Lower case for the direction («go west»), capital for a region name («the West», «West Africa»). Opposite of east. «Western» is the adjective: «western Canada». Maths: directions — going back the opposite way subtracts, the same way adds. Trap: east then west partly cancels (10 east then 4 west is 6 from home).
In the corpora
- "Went west" means died or was destroyed; it is old-fashioned British English.
- The Sun rises roughly in the east and sets roughly in the west.
- Mosquitoes can spread diseases such as West Nile virus and dengue in some places, so spray, long sleeves and nets matter.
- «Proper job, son!» — West Country for «well done».
- Her dad in Bristol said «Proper job, girl» — in the West Country that means «well done».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «west» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.