southeastern

southeastern — adjective

1. relating to the area that lies toward the southeast, the direction halfway betwe

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

relating to the area that lies toward the southeast, the direction halfway between south and east; used to describe something found in or originating from that location.

Example

The university is located in the southeastern part of the city, near the river.

attributive: southeastern part of [place]

A strong storm hit the southeastern coast of the island last night.

southeastern coast (geographic feature)

Common collocations
  • southeastern part
  • southeastern region
  • southeastern corner
  • southeastern coast
  • southeastern state
  • southeastern border
  • southeastern province
  • southeastern county
Synonyms
  • southeast

    more commonly used as a noun ('the southeast'), but can also be an adjective: 'the southeast coast' — interchangeable with 'southeastern' in many contexts

  • southeasterly

    slightly more formal; often describes wind direction or a general tendency ('a southeasterly breeze') rather than a fixed location

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

southeastern + noun (part, region, coast, corner, state)

Usage Note

This adjective is almost always used before a noun (e.g. 'the southeastern part'), rather than after a linking verb. You would not say 'The town is southeastern' in natural English.

Common Mistakes

My hometown is in the south-eastern part of Taiwan.
My hometown is in the southeastern part of Taiwan.
The compound is written as one word, not hyphenated, in standard English.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

While 'southeastern' and 'southeast' both describe the same general direction, 'southeast' is more common as a noun ('the southeast of the country'), whereas 'southeastern' is purely an adjective used before a noun. 'Easterly' and 'southerly' describe general direction or movement ('an easterly wind', 'a southerly route') but do not specify the southeast quadrant specifically. If you want to pinpoint the area between south and east, use 'southeastern' or 'southeast' as the adjective — the choice is often stylistic: 'southeastern' sounds slightly more formal. For example: 'We drove along the southeast coast' (neutral) versus 'They surveyed the southeastern coastline' (more deliberate or technical).

southeastern ↗southeast ↗easterlysoutherly

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • mostly southeastern
  • largely southeastern

Phrases

  • the southeastern part of
  • the southeastern corner of
  • the southeastern coast of

Prepositions

  • in (the southeastern part of)
  • of (the southeastern corner of)
  • from (the southeastern region)

Etymology

Germanic (Old English)English

Formed in English from 'south' (Old English 'sūþ', from Germanic) + 'east' (Old English 'ēast', from Germanic) + the adjective suffix '-ern' (as in 'northern', 'southern', 'eastern', 'western'), which comes from Old English '-erne'. The compound pattern of combining two cardinal directions with '-ern' appeared in Middle English to describe diagonal quadrants.