weave
Americanverb (used with object)
-
weaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
weaved,
past participle, past
-
wove,
past
-
woven,
past participle
-
weaving
present participle
-
to interlace (threads, yarns, strips, fibrous material, etc.) so as to form a fabric or material.
-
to form by interlacing threads, yarns, strands, or strips of some material.
to weave a basket; to weave cloth.
-
to form by combining various elements or details into a connected whole.
to weave a tale; to weave a plan.
-
to introduce as an element or detail into a connected whole (usually followed by in orinto ).
She wove an old folk melody into her latest musical composition.
- Synonyms:
- intermingle, intermix, insert
-
to direct or move along in a winding or zigzag course; move from side to side, especially to avoid obstructions.
to weave one's way through traffic.
verb (used without object)
-
weaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
weaved,
past participle, past
-
wove,
past
-
woven,
past participle
-
weaving
present participle
-
to form or construct something, as fabric, by interlacing threads, yarns, strips, etc.
-
to compose a connected whole by combining various elements or details.
-
to be or become formed or composed from the interlacing of materials or the combining of various elements.
The yarn wove into a beautiful fabric.
-
to move or proceed in a winding course or from side to side.
dancers weaving in time to the music.
verb
-
to form (a fabric) by interlacing (yarn, etc), esp on a loom
-
(tr) to make or construct by such a process
to weave a shawl
-
(tr) to make or construct (an artefact, such as a basket) by interlacing (a pliable material, such as cane)
-
(of a spider) to make (a web)
-
(tr) to construct by combining separate elements into a whole
-
(tr; often foll by in, into, through, etc) to introduce
to weave factual details into a fiction
-
to create (a way, etc) by moving from side to side
to weave through a crowd
-
(intr) () vet science (of a stabled horse) to swing the head, neck, and body backwards and forwards
-
informal to hurry; start to do something
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
weavesimple
-
weavessimple
-
have weavedperfect
-
have wovenperfect
-
has weavedperfect
-
has wovenperfect
-
am weavingprogressive
-
are weavingprogressive
-
is weavingprogressive
-
have been weavingperfect progressive
-
has been weavingperfect progressive
Past
-
weavedsimple
-
wovesimple
-
had weavedperfect
-
had wovenperfect
-
was weavingprogressive
-
were weavingprogressive
-
had been weavingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of weave
before 900; Middle English weven, Old English wefan; cognate with German weben, Old Norse vefa; see web
Explanation
Weaving involves lacing strips of fabric, string, or some other material together to make something. You can weave wool to make a rug, or weave the details of a story together to make a great book. While weave originally only meant to make cloth by interlacing material, it later came to also mean more generally “combine into a whole.” Think of a spider and how it weaves its web, or of how some songs expertly weave in unexpected elements, like the sound of a siren or the waves crashing. You can also use weave to describe a swaying motion, like that of a car darting through traffic when it’s trying to move ahead.
Vocabulary lists containing weave
Native American History - Introductory
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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:
Schoenbrun confidently guides readers down winding, interconnected roads, bouncing between online cults and peculiar digital ephemera to weave a gripping search for truth in a time when the internet has made everything fiction.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2026
“It’s a hard web to weave for people.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
For new investors to pick it up, though, it first needs to weave a more convincing tale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Victoria Segal wrote that the Ian Broudie-produced record was full of "stylistically playful songs" - like One Eye Open and Favourite Kind of Idiot - which "weave through the personal and political".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Thanks. I learned to make it at the trading post. There’s a man there who can weave almost anything. Are...we all going?”
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Now he weaves his tale of triumph over life-threatening trauma into his speeches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
The conflation of spirituality and naked self-interest weaves throughout “Your Mother” as both Latif and Hwan distort their religions’ beliefs to justify their actions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
According to Laura Miller, Mandel expertly weaves together an interconnected cast of characters in this “lovely, meditative new novel.”
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
He says the book uses ginger hair as "a golden thread" that weaves together America's diverse and difficult history in a way which shows a connection between people.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
The video weaves scenes from both parts of my life as you hear the track and my singing over it.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
“The cultural significance of heirlooms—their story, weaved through generations of family grafting and genealogy—is all fine and dandy, but hasn’t science rendered these older apple varieties obsolete?”
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026
He said he had weaved that with fictionalised details from his own life around 2002 when Zimbabwe's economic troubles began.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
On Saturday, about 100 people came together at Big Bear’s Veterans Park for Steers’ memorial, as the nearby lake glittered and swallows weaved through blue skies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Linda Cantey had the sound of her mobile turned off the night the Atlas Wildfire weaved a path of destruction through her section of Napa, California.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
He got up and weaved his way between the chairs and tables to the toilet at the back of the room.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
I have objects he created between music and acting jobs, including art he wove.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
At a recent performance of his Valiant symphony in Chennai, he explained how he wove Schubert's Unfinished Symphony into Idhayam Pogudhey, a song from the 1979 Tamil film Puthiya Vaarpukkal.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
After just four overs from the quicks, the spinners took centre stage and wove a web around the Sri Lankan batters, much as they had throughout the tour.
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
The idea of craft is, to her, “like regarding a vast tapestry and saying, This is how I wove the blue part.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
With two free hands, Alfhercht turned back to the water and wove his fingers in the air.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
But long before dark lip liner and “corporate goth” viral looks splashed across our social media feeds, the macabre was woven into the cultural histories of Latine people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
“His singular voice is woven throughout all of his projects so potently,” she says, “and yet he’s constantly growing and challenging himself as a filmmaker. His work never treads the same emotional ground twice.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Sunrise-III detected numerous thin, elongated magnetic structures woven into a larger network of magnetic fields above a quiet region of the Sun.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2026
Sixty years on, the tragedy remains woven into the nation's collective memory, a day of unimaginable loss that reshaped a community and changed attitudes to industrial safety across Britain.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
And indeed, dear reader, it was not a tail, but the woven plait sprouting from the little human’s head.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Families can take part in Indigenous Mexican ribbon braiding with Ponte Your Monos, sugar skull decorating with Kalaveritas Y Mas, face painting with Doodling Faces, and paper weaving with Ana Reyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
Videos shared by Nevada’s parents on Instagram show the precocious dynamo masterfully weaving between taller players and delivering powerful kicks driving the ball into the goal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Against the Texans, he completed 20 of 28 passes for 252 yards, weaving the ball through tight windows all afternoon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Back at the wedding, Burton is weaving between tables and scanning the room for reactions she might otherwise miss.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
Lately, she’d been weaving it into six braids while it was still damp so that she could have wavy hair in the morning.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
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