swerve
Americanverb (used without object)
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swerves,
present (3rd person singular)
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swerved,
past participle, past
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swerving
present participle
verb (used with object)
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swerves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swerved,
past participle, past
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swerving
present participle
noun
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swerves
plural
verb
-
to turn or cause to turn aside, usually sharply or suddenly, from a course
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(tr) to avoid (a person or event)
noun
Synonym Usage
See deviate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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swervernoun
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unswervingnessnoun
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swervableadjective
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unswervedadjective
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unswervingadjective
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unswervinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swervesimple
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swervessimple
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have swervedperfect
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has swervedperfect
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am swervingprogressive
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are swervingprogressive
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is swervingprogressive
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have been swervingperfect progressive
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has been swervingperfect progressive
Past
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swervedsimple
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had swervedperfect
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was swervingprogressive
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were swervingprogressive
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had been swervingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swerve
1175–1225; Middle English swerven (v.); Old English sweorfan to rub, file; cognate with Dutch zwerven to rove, Old High German swerban, Old Norse sverfa to file, Gothic afswairban to wipe off
Explanation
The noun swerve means a sudden turn off your path. As a verb, it means to move off your original route, possibly to avoid a collision. You can swerve either toward something or away from it. The word swerve can be traced to the Old English sweorfan, "to turn aside," which is precisely the modern sense. It was first used as a verb in the 13th century and as a noun in the 18th. Swerve refers to a sudden veering off, perhaps not as sharp as a turn, but more a bending of your path. Think of the trajectory as an arc or curve, and remember that swerve rhymes with curve.
Vocabulary lists containing swerve
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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:
The selection is a bit of a swerve from Gap campaigns featuring far more established music artists from Madonna to Missy Elliott.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The views were spectacular, if you had the guts to swerve your eyes from the white-knuckling road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The footage of the incident shows a bus being forced to swerve into the lane next to them to avoid hitting the woman.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
But things can just swerve health-wise—well, anytime in life, but especially for octogenarians.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
I swerve and barely avoid being run over.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
There are a number of weird swerves in this generous, if convoluted, offer from your relative.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
We should be so lucky to experience a film that swerves just when we think we’ve made up our minds.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
But the top of my crack, well, it swerves like it’s a freehand drawing done after a third martini.
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2026
But he will be wary of the threat from Verstappen on the first lap with the long run through the Eau Rouge swerves and up the hill to Les Combes.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
The picture is not unlike Egypt today, where the government in Cairo keeps power by a combination of tactics, including management of local religious authorities that swerves between heavy-handed intimidation and cynical appeasement.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
Instead, Rosalía swerved drastically as she began to craft Lux.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
More than two decades after these aired, we’ve swerved between an age of unattainable thinness being pushed as a cultural ideal and a time of healthy-at-any-size body positivity from which we’re slowly regressing.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
Critics say the prime minister has swerved from one policy misstep to another during his 22 months at the helm.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
It said Wilburn “likely recognized the Tesla as a hazard” about a second before the crash, at which point he swerved his steering wheel to the right and applied the brakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
He swerved past it, stopped and, looking back, saw Bigwig come racing in from the opposite side.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Feyi-Waboso was the swerving, centre point of England's early endeavour.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
The pilot intervenes seconds before it could crash into us, sending the device swerving away with a flick of his finger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
Not long after, video footage showed the vehicle swerving erratically between lanes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Drivers called 999 after seeing Hynd's Nissan Qashqai moving erratically and swerving into the opposing carriageway.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Harry rose fast, but his Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
