veer

¹

[veer]

verb (used without object)

1. to change direction or turn about or aside; shift, turn, or change from one course, position, inclination, etc., to another.

   The speaker kept veering from his main topic. The car veered off the road.

   Synonyms: diverge, swerve, deviate

2. (of the wind)

   1. to change direction clockwise (back ).

   2. Nautical.,  to shift to a direction more nearly astern (haul ).

verb (used with object)

1. to alter the direction or course of; turn.

2. Nautical.,  to turn (a vessel) away from the wind; wear.

noun

1. a change of direction, position, course, etc..

   a sudden veer in a different direction.

veer

²

[veer]

verb (used with object)

Nautical.

1. to slacken or let out.

   to veer chain.

veer

¹

/ vɪə /

verb

1. to alter direction (of); swing around

2. (intr) to change from one position, opinion, etc, to another

3. (intr)

   1. (of the wind) to change direction clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern

   2. nautical to blow from a direction nearer the stern Compare haul

4. nautical to steer (a vessel) off the wind

noun

1. a change of course or direction

veer

²

/ vɪə /

verb

1. (tr; often foll by out or away) nautical to slacken or pay out (cable or chain)

Other Word Forms

• veeringly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of veer¹

First recorded in 1575–85, veer is from the Middle French word virer to turn

Origin of veer²

1425–75; late Middle English vere < Middle Dutch vieren to let out

Word History and Origins

Origin of veer¹

C16: from Old French virer, probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh gwyro to diverge

Origin of veer²

C16: from Dutch vieren, from Old High German fieren to give direction

Example Sentences

Now, like two bottle rockets veering wildly off course, the NFL franchises cross paths again and face similar predicaments.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mr. Guadagnino also indulges a couple of speeches about young people’s alleged hypersensitivity that veer into trite middle-aged lament and aren’t really relevant to the action.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The hall’s two galleries are, however, unduly cramped, and the well-intentioned call to environmental action veers into preachiness.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And Lucky’s monologue—veering inanely through realms including religion, academics and sports—is delivered by Mr. Thornton not, as it usually is, as a galloping pile of gabble, but with a musing seriousness.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It also veers into sociology, as in that class lecture or when an angry David says, “The whole system is built around them, ‘him,’ not us, victims.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bend 
• deflect 
• depart 
• deviate 
• diverge 
• divert 
• drift 
• pivot 
• shift 
• skid 
• swerve 
• swing 
• twist 
• whirl