SOUTHERLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does southerly mean? 

• SOUTHERLY (noun)
  The noun SOUTHERLY has 1 sense:

1. a wind from the south

  Familiarity information: SOUTHERLY used as a noun is very rare.

• SOUTHERLY (adjective)
  The adjective SOUTHERLY has 2 senses:

1. situated in or oriented toward the south

2. from the south; used especially of wind

  Familiarity information: SOUTHERLY used as an adjective is rare.

• SOUTHERLY (adverb)
  The adverb SOUTHERLY has 2 senses:

1. toward the south

2. from the south

  Familiarity information: SOUTHERLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOUTHERLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wind from the south

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

south wind; souther; southerly

Hypernyms ("southerly" is a kind of...):

air current; current of air; wind (air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure)

• SOUTHERLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Situated in or oriented toward the south

Synonyms:

southerly; southern

Context example:

took a southerly course

Similar:

south (situated in or facing or moving toward or coming from the south)

Sense 2

Meaning:

From the south; used especially of wind

Synonyms:

southerly; southern

Context example:

the winds are southerly

Similar:

south (situated in or facing or moving toward or coming from the south)

Derivation:

souther (a wind from the south)

• SOUTHERLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Toward the south

Synonyms:

southerly; southward; southwards

Context example:

the ship turned southerly

Pertainym:

southerly (situated in or oriented toward the south)

Sense 2

Meaning:

From the south

Context example:

a wind blew southerly

Pertainym:

southerly (from the south; used especially of wind)

 Context examples 

The study found that warmer, more southerly permafrost regions will not become a carbon source until the end of the 22nd century, even though they are thawing now.

(Far Northern Permafrost May Unleash Carbon Within Decades, NASA)

The autumn of that year was a stormy one, and there was a long succession of southerly gales.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The research showed that while concentrations of black carbon aerosols near the surface of the valley floor are low, locally produced black carbon may stay sequestered in the upper layers of soils near field camps until it is disturbed and distributed by high winds, including the so-called Foehn wind event, a warm southerly wind that occurred during the study period.

(Soot transported from elsewhere in world contributes little to melting of some Antarctic glaciers, National Science Foundation)

We were coming out of the ice-pack on our way home, with head winds and a week’s southerly gale, when we picked up a little craft that had been blown north. There was one man on her—a landsman.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)