THWART

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does thwart mean? 

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

1. a crosspiece spreading the gunnels of a boat; used as a seat in a rowboat

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

• THWART (verb)
  The verb THWART has 1 sense:

1. hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

  Familiarity information: THWART used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THWART (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A crosspiece spreading the gunnels of a boat; used as a seat in a rowboat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cross thwart; thwart

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

crosspiece (a transverse brace)

Holonyms ("thwart" is a part of...):

dinghy; dory; rowboat (a small boat of shallow draft with cross thwarts for seats and rowlocks for oars with which it is propelled)

• THWART (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they thwart    ... he / she / it thwarts   
Past simple: thwarted   
Past participle: thwarted   
-ing form: thwarting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

baffle; bilk; cross; foil; frustrate; queer; scotch; spoil; thwart

Context example:

foil your opponent

Hypernyms (to "thwart" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "thwart"):

disappoint; let down (fail to meet the hopes or expectations of)

dash (destroy or break)

short-circuit (hamper the progress of; impede)

ruin (destroy or cause to fail)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

thwarter (someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take)

thwarting (an act of hindering someone's plans or efforts)

 Context examples 

It makes me very nervous and poorly, to be thwarted so in my own family, and to have neighbours who think of themselves before anybody else.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Surely there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every possible accident should thwart us in all we try to do.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She hath a proper spirit for her years and cannot abide to be thwarted.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am thwarted in every thing material.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Young people do not like to be always thwarted.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I dropped upon the thwart again, none too soon, for I was near overboard.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In other people's presence I was, as formerly, deferential and quiet; any other line of conduct being uncalled for: it was only in the evening conferences I thus thwarted and afflicted him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The boat-puller obeyed, taking a turn around the little forward thwart and paying the line as it jerked taut.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The motivational and/or affective state of annoyance resulting from being blocked, thwarted, disappointed or defeated.

(Frustration, NCI Thesaurus)

Even the old chief met us with the same obstinate denial, and it was only Maretas, the youngster whom we had saved, who looked wistfully at us and told us by his gestures that he was grieved for our thwarted wishes.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)