careen
Americanverb (used without object)
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careens,
present (3rd person singular)
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careened,
past participle, past
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careening
present participle
-
(of a vehicle) to lean, sway, or tip to one side while in motion.
The car careened around the corner.
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(of a ship) to heel over or list.
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South Midland U.S. to lean or bend away from the vertical position.
The barn was careening a little.
verb (used with object)
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careens,
present (3rd person singular)
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careened,
past participle, past
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careening
present participle
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to cause (a ship) to lie over on a side, as for repairs or cleaning; heave down.
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to clean or repair (a ship lying on its side for the purpose).
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to cause (a ship) to heel over or list, as by the force of a beam wind.
noun
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a careening.
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Nautical. the position of a careened ship.
verb
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to sway or cause to sway dangerously over to one side
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(tr) nautical to cause (a vessel) to keel over to one side, esp in order to clean or repair its bottom
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(intr) nautical (of a vessel) to keel over to one side
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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careensimple
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careenssimple
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have careenedperfect
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has careenedperfect
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am careeningprogressive
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are careeningprogressive
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is careeningprogressive
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have been careeningperfect progressive
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has been careeningperfect progressive
Past
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careenedsimple
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had careenedperfect
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was careeningprogressive
-
were careeningprogressive
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had been careeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of careen
1585–95 careen for def. 9; < Middle French carine < Latin carīna keel, nutshell; akin to Greek káryon nut
Explanation
Whether it’s an unsteady ship, a speeding bus, or a person who is woozy, use the verb careen to describe something that’s teetering from side to side. When the word careen first entered the English language in the sixteenth century, it was used to describe a beached ship that was turned on its side for repair. The word can still refer to making those kinds of nautical repairs, but now you’re more likely to hear the word used to describe something that is swaying from side to side. You may feel like a ship out of control if you careen madly through a crowd or if you careen down a steep hill on skis.
Vocabulary lists containing careen
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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:
While recording in a park one evening, Jack picks up the sound of a car tire exploding before he sees the vehicle careen off the road and into a creek.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
Even the slightest misstep made me feel like I was about to careen out of control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
A daunting prospect after mechanical failure caused his Lotus car to careen into barriers at 160mph in Jerez in 1990.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
Her sounds careen and resonate in avant-garde ways that feel primal, even tectonic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025
A little after noon on that Saturday in May, the shoppers pushing their grocery carts in Heinen’s heard the fire engines wail to life and careen away, toward the duck pond.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
“You Wished for This” careens from ponderous ambience to shredded digital noise; The two parts of “Love is in the Air” recasts the yearning of a classic Hollywood love theme into a blood-soaked rictus grin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
It was a somber reminder of how far apart the two sides are as baseball careens toward a labor apocalypse that seems all but inevitable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
As the tram careens past, a delivery man can been seen leaping to safety from his bicycle, while a passerby also races out of the way.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
His experience, he said, has taught him how to mitigate the damage done when an opposing team member careens into you.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
It glances off a shimmering purple shield, though, and careens off to the side.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
The Truman on the same deployment careened into a civilian ship, generating another report, which mentions issues such as ship watch standers “in a two-section rotation with only 60% manning, leading to excessive fatigue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Police were on scene Monday afternoon in Granada Hills after a Tesla driver lost control and careened into the Ali Baba Persian Restaurant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2026
This year, somehow, I careened straight from verdant, crisp summer food — cucumber salads, crisp chicken Caesar wraps, yogurt bowls, smoothies — into the warm-orange-and-brown spectrum of winter.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2025
Crypto executives careened around the U.A.E. capital, dashing between a half-dozen different conferences, a “Whale Only” night at a secluded beach club, and champagne-soaked parties aboard superyachts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
That afternoon, ten-year-old Alfons Heck watched as army trucks careened into the marketplace of Wittlich, a small town in the Rhineland area of western Germany.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
MLB is careening toward what is expected to be a ferocious labor fight this winter that could result in missed games for the first time since the player strike that canceled the 1994 World Series.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
But here’s what excites me most about the brave new world of mathematics the A.I. industry has us careening toward: We will have a much sharper sense of what the truly difficult problems are.
From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2026
How much can one film really change a world that seems like it’s careening faster and faster toward annihilation?
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2026
Weeks later, heavy rains sent mud and debris careening into the canyon, burying sections of the camp in feet of dirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
I’m staggering down the sidewalk, sun blinding my eyes, careening from car to telephone pole, trying to get away from the truth, from the frenzy of emotions chasing me down.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
