swerve

Meaning

Verb

1. (archaic) To stray; to wander; to rove.
2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
3. To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate.
4. To bend; to incline; to give way.
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
6. To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
7. Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
8. To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off.
9. (slang, transitive) To go out of one's way to avoid; to snub.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.
2. (countable, uncountable) A deviation from duty or custom.
3. (countable, uncountable) Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”).

Synonyms

veer

deviate

turn

deflect

slide

sheer

digress

be slippery

yaw

diverge

slip

turn away

depart

aberrate

fire

🔥

veering

sway

shunt

divert

cut

wheel

🛞

endorse

trend

swerving

stray

swing

bend

slew

slue

curve

transfer

head

go wrong

detour

go out

convert

fall off

fall away

deflexion

eschew

error

deflection

blench

backtrack

shift

shake

🫨

send out

sidetrack

slant

drift

Translations

deviare

virer

🐻

girar

endosseren

endossar

desviación

girar

faire un écart

gireren

deviazione

wenden

zwenking

ausweichen

transferir

inhiraf

Pronounced as (IPA)

/swɜːv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: swerven

Inherited from Old English: sweorfan

Cognate with Western Frisian: swerve

Cognate with Dutch: zwerven

Cognate with Low German: swarven

In summary

From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan (“to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to rub off; wipe; mop”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (“to turn; wipe; sweep”). Cognate with West Frisian swerve (“to wander; roam; swerve”), Dutch zwerven (“to wander; stray; roam”), Low German swarven (“to swerve; wander; riot”), Swedish dialectal svärva (“to wipe”), Icelandic sverfa (“to file”).