Athwart is an adverb that means in opposition to or across from.

The word thwart, which is from Middle English descent, is a verb that means ‘to prevent someone from doing something.’ By adding the prefix A, we get a preposition or adverb that describes the position of someone or something.

For example: After softball practice we were all starving. Luckily there was a pizza place athwart the softball field.