lurch
1 Americannoun
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an act or instance of swaying abruptly.
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an awkward, swaying or staggering motion or gait.
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a sudden tip or roll to one side, as of a ship or a staggering person.
noun
idioms
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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Archaic. to do out of; defraud; cheat.
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Obsolete. to acquire through underhanded means; steal; filch.
noun
verb
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to lean or pitch suddenly to one side
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to stagger or sway
noun
noun
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to desert someone in trouble
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cribbage the state of a losing player with less than 30 points at the end of a game (esp in the phrase in the lurch )
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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lurchsimple
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lurchessimple
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have lurchedperfect
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has lurchedperfect
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am lurchingprogressive
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are lurchingprogressive
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is lurchingprogressive
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have been lurchingperfect progressive
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has been lurchingperfect progressive
Past
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lurchedsimple
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had lurchedperfect
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was lurchingprogressive
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were lurchingprogressive
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had been lurchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lurch1
First recorded in 1800–10; origin uncertain
Origin of lurch2
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle French lourche a game, noun use of lourche (adjective) “defeated,” from a Germanic language; compare Middle High German lurz “left (hand); wrong,” lürzen “to deceive,” Old English belyrtan “to deceive”
Origin of lurch3
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English lorchen “to skulk,” apparently variant of lurken lurk
Explanation
To lurch is to suddenly move — usually forward. If you are on a ship that lurches a lot during a storm, you may find your body lurching in one direction and your stomach going in the opposite one. The verb lurch can refer to any abrupt movement, but it often has the sense of a sharp turn up, down, or sideways. If you invest in the stock market, you have to be prepared for sudden losses and gains as the stock market can lurch up or down on a whim. The verb also means to make sudden jerking movements when walking, as if you cannot control your movements.
Vocabulary lists containing lurch
The Diary of Anne Frank
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List 7
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The Cay
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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.
See Examples For:
Treasury yields continued to lurch higher — helping to put more pressure on stocks, which struggled during the first trading session of the week.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Yields, which move inversely to bond prices, took another lurch higher Tuesday just as finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 leading economies were concluding two days of meetings in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
"We are left in the lurch, without any money, any means of support, just only the scars from the war," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Markets trust the Fed not to lurch at every wiggle in the data because the projections give them an anchor, said George Saghir, a veteran global-macro investor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
I lurch away from him, unable to hide my shock.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Congress has yet to seriously discuss solutions to the program’s financing issues, but as Social Security lurches toward insolvency in the coming years, legislators may be forced to start deliberations soon.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
At this point, Mr. Dessner’s instantly identifiable studio techniques—stately pianos, dry and uninflected recordings captured up close, rushing builds when a song lurches toward a climax—have become shopworn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
A few minutes later, the SUV lurches forward, then drives slowly down the street.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2026
Ron’s quest lurches and retreats often enough for the audience and Robinson’s hero to wonder whether he’ll be able to land this thing safely without destroying his safe Midwestern life.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2025
The subway lurches and another wave of people goes out, comes in.
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The narrow stairway was filled with the heavy whirring of gears and joints as the robots steadily lurched upward.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Business was winding down for the day at Sendan Shokudo, a diner in Japan's southwestern city of Yatsushiro, when the whole building suddenly lurched.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Wembanyama lurched forward, toppled and slammed the right side of his face on the floor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Ever since the Covid pandemic exposed the fragility of global supply chains, the shipping industry has lurched from one market-disrupting event to another.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
“Tell me about the refuge,” Chase said, as the bus lurched forward.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Maybe this is what the Chargers are — lurching, sputtering and unable to consistently move the football, despite an offensive overhaul packed with lofty expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Global financial markets might look like they are lurching from one problem to the next.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
Meanwhile the Caliente Range — those mountains just to the west — are lurching the opposite way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
The former Marine uses the lurching, 15,000-pound vehicle to bore a path through the soil for future fiber-optic lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
Brian Johnson opened the season with a fifteen-yard run off the right side through a gaping hole to the Permian 47, lurching forward for every possible extra inch.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
