gyrate
Americanverb (used without object)
adjective
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has gyratedperfect 3rd person singular
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have gyratedperfect
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has been gyratingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am gyratingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been gyratingperfect progressive
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is gyratingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are gyratingprogressive
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gyratessingular 3rd person
-
gyratingparticiple
Past
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had gyratedperfect
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had been gyratingperfect progressive
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was gyratingprogressive singular
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were gyratingprogressive plural
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gyratedsimple
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gyratedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of gyrate
First recorded in 1820–30, gyrate is from the Latin word gȳrātus (past participle of gȳrāre to turn around). See gyr-, -ate 1
Explanation
When things turn or spin on an axis, like the seats on a whirling amusement park ride, they gyrate. When you spin a top, you watch it gyrate. An axis is a fixed, imaginary point or line that something rotates around — the Earth, famously, turns on an axis. If an object spins rapidly around this point, it gyrates. Many kinds of engines gyrate, and so do pinwheels, windmills, and gyroscopes. Even Elvis's hips were said to gyrate! The root of the verb gyrate is the Latin word for "circle," gyrus, which in turn comes from the Greek gyros, "circle or ring."
Vocabulary lists containing gyrate
Warriors Don't Cry
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You Bring the Distant Near
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Prom Time
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Appeared in the October 15, 2025, print edition as 'Stocks Gyrate on Trade Crosswinds'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025
My old time chums Gyrate their thumbs And taunt me, as I sighing go, With what they term my folly.
From Hoosier Lyrics by Field, Eugene
Gyrate, old Top, and let who will be clever; The mess we’re in is much too deep to solve.
From The So-called Human Race by Taylor, Bert Leston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
