Library / English Dictionary

THWART

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

cross thwart; thwart

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Example:

foil your opponent

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

But I have learned in my miserable life, Charles, that there is a power which fashions things for us, though we may strive to thwart it, and that we are in truth driven by an unseen current towards a certain goal, however much we may deceive ourselves into thinking that it is our own sails and oars which are speeding us upon our way.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Having warbled his thanks and put the potions in his boots, Hugo departed, and Hagar informed the audience that as he had killed a few of her friends in times past, she had cursed him, and intends to thwart his plans, and be revenged on him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Do not thwart her, comrade,” said big John.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even these bore trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and both in their muddy and unbailed condition.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my call. When my brain says Come! to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding; and to that end this!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then I compelled her to stand up, and though she would have fallen had I not supported her, I forced her to walk back and forth the several steps between the thwart and the stern-sheets, and finally to spring up and down.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful and thwarted just now; he was past youth, but had not reached middle-age; perhaps he might be thirty-five.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was one thwart set as low as possible, a kind of stretcher in the bows, and a double paddle for propulsion.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It is a very strange thing, this sleep-walking, for as soon as her will is thwarted in any physical way, her intention, if there be any, disappears, and she yields herself almost exactly to the routine of her life.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

John no one thwarted, much less punished; though he twisted the necks of the pigeons, killed the little pea-chicks, set the dogs at the sheep, stripped the hothouse vines of their fruit, and broke the buds off the choicest plants in the conservatory: he called his mother old girl, too; sometimes reviled her for her dark skin, similar to his own; bluntly disregarded her wishes; not unfrequently tore and spoiled her silk attire; and he was still her own darling.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)