western
/ˈwɛst(ə)n
/adjective
1 [attributive] Situated in the west, or directed towards or facing the west: there will be showers in some western areas...
- Initially, work was at Pin Hole Cave, the entrance to which lies towards the western end of the north side of the gorge.
- Towards the western end of the ramparts there is an obvious break where a path leads through rocky portals to gain a grassy bealach.
- We left as the sun was drifting into the western horizon and headed towards Chola country.
1.1(Of a wind) blowing from the west.
2 (Western) Living in or originating from the West, in particular Europe or the United States: Western society...
- However, this happy juxtaposition of Eastern style and Western living has not always been so effortless.
- This is no longer the case in most Western European countries and the United States.
- These images are easy to find in Govan, as in every other city in Britain, Europe and very probably the Western world.
2.1Relating to or characteristic of the West or its inhabitants: the history of Western art...
- This is characteristic of most Western European music and some music from other cultures.
- There's written text input too, with Kanji and Western character recognition.
- The background is resource competition that is reshaping western policy towards West Africa.
2.2 historical Of or originating from the non-Communist states of Europe and North America in contrast to the Eastern bloc: the President threatened to end Western aid for an oil pipeline in Siberia...
- He was usually an ally and sometimes an inspiration to new governments in Western and Eastern Europe.
- It has also been a bridge of reconciliation between Western and Eastern Europe.
- This is why we have seen so many divisions and contradictions within the Western establishment on this issue.
noun
A film, television drama, or novel about cowboys in western North America, set especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.He went to bed early and read westerns or thrillers until the wee hours....
- To him, the point seemed obvious, for all films - gangsters, westerns, comedies - relied on action.
- In popular books and film then, westerns were a staple: there were a lot of them every year and so they provided a wide, deep genre pool to play in and to invent with.
Derivatives
westernmost
/ adjective ...- ‘Off the westernmost coast of Japan, is an island called ‘Gunkanjima’ that is hardly known even to the Japanese.
- The most striking finding was that in Connaught, the westernmost point of Europe, almost all men carry this particular gene.
- Lying at the westernmost point of the African continent, Senegal is the first sub-Saharan country encountered as one sails southward ‘around the bend’ from Europe.
Origin
Old English westerne (see west, -ern).