pivot

Noun

1. A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle.
2. (broadly, figuratively) Something or someone having a paramount significance in a certain situation.
3. Act of turning on one foot.
4. The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place while the company or line moves around him in wheeling.
5. A player with responsibility for co-ordinating their team in a particular jam.
6. An element of a set to be sorted that is chosen as a midpoint, so as to divide the other elements into two groups to be dealt with recursively.
7. A pivot table.
8. Any of a row of captioned elements used to navigate to subpages, rather like tabs.
9. An element of a matrix that is used as a focus for row operations, such as dividing the row by the pivot, or adding multiples of the row to other rows making all other values in the pivot column 0.
10. A pivotal quantity.
11. (Canadian) A quarterback.
12. A circle runner.
13. (US) A shift during a general election in a political candidate's messaging to reflect plans and values more moderate than those advocated during the primary.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To turn on an exact spot.
2. (slang) To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.
3. (US) To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈpɪv.ət/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pevet

In summary

From Middle English pevet, *pivot, from Old French pivot (“hinge pin, pivot”) (12th c.), possibly from Latin pūgiō.

Synonyms

axis

swivel

rotate

hub

spin

center

turn

rod

core

shank

axle

spindle

pivot man

twirl

swing

fulcrum

shaft

revolve

centre

gyrate

gudgeon

veer

twist

omphalos

whirl

nucleus

turn around

key man

pin

hinge

pintle

central figure

heart

❤️

hasp

cock

circumvolve

belly button

go around

go

circumvent

get

navel

circumnavigate

balance

axis of revolution

move around

middle

needle

foundation

mandril

Translations

pivot

pivote

perno

pivoter

Drehpunkt

Achse

spil

roteren

schwenken

👋

tap

tourner

draaien

pivô

luns

cardine