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West is the direction towards which the sun sets at the equinox. It is one of the four cardinal points of the compass, upon which it is considered the opposite of East, and at right angles to North and South.

Moving continuously west is following a circle of latitude, which, except in the case of the equator, is not a great circle, hence not the shortest route.

In astronomy, there are several comets named after a discoverer whose name was West; the most famous is Comet WestComets Comet West (formally designated C/1975 V1 was a spectacular comet, sometimes considered to qualify for the status of "great comet". It was discovered by Richard M. West in late 1975 and reached peak brightness in March 1976. Comet West was what 197.

"The West" also often refers to Western countries. When used in this sense, it could mean anything from NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO , sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance is an international organization for defense collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed, EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se and North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea with or without JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh to all of Judeo-Christian civilisation. See also: OccidentLiterally, Occident means the west, as opposed to orient or east. It common usage, it refers to Western countries. The word has not come into common usage in most of the Western world for the description of individuals, as the term Oriental once was for t

"West" can also refer to the American West, especially during the end of the 19th century. It is also called the "Old West" or "Wild West" (see American Old West). See also: Western movie

In pre-modern China, the West indicated the land of Buddha and the place from which the sacred Buddist scriptures came (cf. Journey to the West).

In Mumbai city, West refers to the part of a suburb to the west of the railway line. (See Mumbai suburban railway)

West is the surname of various persons, notably

• Adam West, actor who played the title character in the television comedy Batman
• Chandra West , actress
• Cornel West, religious studies and African-American studies scholar
• Jerry West, professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers
• Mae West, actress and screenwriter
• Nathanael West, novelist and playwright
• Shane West , actor

See also: Western, West-Cappel , a French commune in the Nord département