Thwarted

How to spell thwarted

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce thwarted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does thwarted mean?

1. verbPrevented someone from accomplishing something, or blocked a plan from succeeding.

Thwarted in a sentence

• Alert bank staff thwarted the fraud before any money left the account.

• Heavy snow thwarted our plans to drive north for the weekend.

Where does thwarted come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This word traces back to Old Norse, where 'thvert' meant 'across' or 'crosswise', the neuter form of the adjective 'thverr' meaning 'transverse' or 'lying athwart'. Norse settlers brought the term into northern English during the early medieval period, and by the 1200s it was being used in English first as an adverb and adjective meaning 'lying across the path'. From that physical sense of something lying crosswise and getting in the way, the meaning naturally shifted to 'to oppose, obstruct, or block someone's purpose', the sense we use today. The same crosswise idea survives in the nautical word 'athwart', meaning from side to side across a ship. The slightly awkward 'thw' cluster and the silent feel of the 'w' are exactly what trip writers up, since the spelling preserves a sound that the modern voice tends to swallow.

How the word is built

• thwart (from Old Norse thvert: across, crosswise)
• -ed (past tense/participle suffix)