maneuver

Meaning

Noun

1. (US) The planned movement of troops, vehicles etc.; a strategic repositioning; (later also) a large training field-exercise of fighting units.
2. (US) Any strategic or cunning action; a stratagem.
3. (US) A movement of the body, or with an implement, instrument etc., especially one performed with skill or dexterity.
4. (US) A specific medical or surgical movement, often eponymous, done with the doctor's hands or surgical instruments.
5. (US) A controlled (especially skillful) movement taken while steering a vehicle.

Verb

1. (US, ambitransitive) To move (something, or oneself) carefully, and often with difficulty, into a certain position.
2. (US, figuratively, transitive) To guide, steer, manage purposefully
3. (US, figuratively, intransitive) To intrigue, manipulate, plot, scheme

Synonyms

manoeuvre

manoeuver

stratagem

move

manoeuvre

scheme

trick

tactics

artifice

strategy

be at bay

manipulate

steer

march

do manoeuvres

device

direct

finagle

guide

head

operate

plan

play

point

ruse

shift

tactic

tactical maneuver

tactical manoeuvre

wangle

war game

wile

be cornered

evasive action

channelize

be checkmated

be stalled

channelise

simulated military operation

do maneuvers

power-driven

plot

tortuousity

procedure

quirk

resources

ruff

program formulation

contrivance

sham battle

Translations

manœuvre

maniobra

manœuvrer

manobra

manovra

manoeuvre

maniobrar

ελιγμός

manoeuvreren

Manöver

manovrare

maniobra

manobrar

rangeren

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məˈnuːvɚ/

Etymology

Cognate with Old English: handweorc

Cognate with Old English: handġeweorc

Cognate with German: Handwerk

In summary

From Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, maneuver”) and manouvrer (“to maneuver”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labor”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handuwerk (“hand-work”). Compare Old English handweorc, Old English handġeweorc, German Handwerk. The verb is a doublet of the verb manure.