Northwest is the direction exactly halfway between north and west. If you face north and turn 45 degrees to your left, you're facing northwest. On a compass, northwest sits between the N and W markers.

The word can also describe a region located in that direction from a reference point. When Americans talk about the Pacific Northwest, they mean the area in the northwestern part of the country: Washington, Oregon, and sometimes Idaho or northern California. Similarly, the Northwest Territories in Canada got their name from being in the northwest part of the country when they were established.

In navigation and mapmaking, northwest is often abbreviated as NW. Sea captains might say a ship is sailing northwest, meaning it's heading in that diagonal direction across the water. Weather forecasters use it too: “A cold front is moving in from the northwest” means the weather system is coming from that direction.

If you're walking northwest, you're moving at an angle, going both northward and westward at the same time.