thwart n : a crosspiece spreading the gunnels of a boat; used as a seat in a rowboat [syn: cross thwart] v : hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of; "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent" [syn: queer, spoil, scotch, foil, cross, frustrate, baffle, bilk]

English

Pronunciation

• /θwɔː(r)t/
• /TwOrt/
• Rhymes with: -ɔː(r)t

Etymology

From etyl enm thwerten, thwarten

Verb

1. to prevent; to halt; to cause failure.

   The police thwarted the would-be assassin.

Derived terms

• thwarter

Translations

Noun

1. A seat attached to both sides of a boat.

   The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

Translations

across, across the grain, annul, athwart, athwartships, baffle, balk, beat, bench, bendwise, bias, biased, biaswise, bilk, blast, block, brace, brave, bring to nothing, buffer, cancel, cancel out, cast down, catercorner, catercornered, challenge, check, checkmate, circumvent, come to nothing, confound, confront, contrariwise, contravene, contrawise, counter, counteract, counterbalance, countermand, counterwork, crisscross, cross, cross-grained, crossing, crossway, crossways, crosswise, curb, dash, defeat, defeat expectation, defy, destroy, diagonal, disappoint, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, dish, disillusion, disrupt, dissatisfy, elude, flummox, foil, foul up, frustrate, gum up, hinder, impede, invalidate, kittycorner, knock the chocks, let down, negate, negativate, negative, neutralize, nonplus, nullify, oblique, obliquely, obstruct, offset, oppose, overthwart, perplex, queer, restrain, ruin, sabotage, scotch, short-circuit, sideways, sidewise, slant, spike, spoil, stonewall, stop, stultify, stump, style, stymie, tantalize, tease, thwartly, thwartways, transversal, transverse, transversely, traverse, undo, upset, vitiate, void