Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective In the same direction as the rotating hands of a clock.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In the direction of rotation of the hands of a clock: as, the direction of the Amperian currents in the south pole of a magnet is clockwise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective -- of rotatory motion.
  • in the same direction as the hands of a clock rotate, as viewed from in front of the clock face; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative. Also said of the direction of a spiral, in which case the term right-handed is more common. Opposite of counterclockwise, and left-handed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb of movement In a circular fashion so as to be moving to the right at the top of the circle and to the left at the bottom, in the way that the hands of an analogue/analog clock move.
  • adjective Moving clockwise; having rotary motion in the manner of a clock.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb in the direction that the hands of a clock move
  • adjective in the same direction as the rotating hands of a clock

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

clock +‎ -wise

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word clockwise.

Examples

  • Rub it in clockwise, just a little tiny dab, about the size of the tip of your pencil eraser.

    Excerpt: Good Faith by Jane Smiley 2003

  • Mary Patterson expresses concern [IX, 2] that digital timepieces could result in the loss of the terms clockwise and anticlockwise (counterclockwise in the States).

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 3 1983

  • According to the Times, the artworks are, clockwise from the top center: Rauschenberg's wavy line; Novros 'black square bisected by thin white lines [in 1969, Novros also created the incredibly rich, minimalist fresco on the second floor of Judd's 101 Spring St]; a computer-generated drawing by Myers; a geometric mouse by Oldenburg, "the subject of a sculpture in his current show at the Museum of Modern Art" [a sculpture which is in MoMA's permanent collection, btw]; and a template pattern by Chamberlain, "similar to one he used to produce paintings done with automobile lacquer."

    Boing Boing 2008

  • Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation station "Salt Lake" is 292° 12'25 ", 9393.00 feet, and running as follows, all azimuths being measured clockwise from the true south:

    EXECUTIVE ORDER 9545 1945

  • Do the opposite, obviously if you are seeing the dancer spin clockwise. —

    Right Versus Left Brain: What Does the Spinning Dancer Teach Us? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007

  • Hey not so fast Steve…that bit of cloudiness over florida has some movement to it that somebody could call a clockwise rotation.

    Atlantic Hurricane Track Versions « Climate Audit 2007

  • A sheer cliff cannot be scaled -- until you spin the world 90 degrees clockwise, that is, creating a nice flat plain to stroll across.

    AskMen.com - HOME PAGE 2009

  • A sheer cliff cannot be scaled -- until you spin the world 90 degrees clockwise, that is, creating a nice flat plain to stroll across.

    IGN Complete 2009

  • You can see the pattern in which it's swirling, kind of clockwise that way.

    CNN Transcript Sep 6, 2008 2008

  • A Colt revolver’s cylinder steps around clockwise, which is different from a Smith & Wesson, which rotates counterclockwise.

    Persuader Child, Lee 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.