Definition of "thwart" in English

adjective

1. Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.

2. (figuratively, dated) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.

3. (figuratively, dated) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.

adverb

1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.

preposition

1. (archaic or poetic) Across, athwart.

verb

1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.

   • Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
   • The police thwarted the would-be assassin.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.

3. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.

4. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.

   • An arrow thwarts the air.

noun

1. (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.

   • The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

2. (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (“breadth”) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.

   • A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.

3. (rare) An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.