yaw

¹ American  

[yaw] / jɔ /

verb (used without object)

• yaws,
  present (3rd person singular)
• yawed,
  past participle,  past
• yawing
  present participle

1. to deviate temporarily from a straight course, as a ship.

2. (of an aircraft) to have a motion about its vertical axis.

3. (of a rocket or guided missile) to deviate from a stable flight attitude by oscillation of the longitudinal axis in the horizontal plane.

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verb (used with object)

• yaws,
  present (3rd person singular)
• yawed,
  past participle,  past
• yawing
  present participle

1. to cause to yaw.

noun

1. a movement of deviation from a direct course, as of a ship.

2. a motion of an aircraft about its vertical axis.

3. an angle, to the right or left, determined by the direction of motion of an aircraft or spacecraft and its vertical and longitudinal plane of symmetry.

4. (of a rocket or guided missile)

   1. the act of yawing.

   2. the angular displacement of the longitudinal axis due to yawing.

yaw ² American  

[yaw] / jɔ /

noun

Pathology.

1. one of the lesions of yaws.

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yaw British  

/ jɔː /

verb

1. (intr) (of an aircraft, missile, etc) to turn about its vertical axis Compare pitch 1 roll

2. (intr) (of a ship, etc) to deviate temporarily from a straight course

3. (tr) to cause (an aircraft, ship, etc) to yaw

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noun

1. the angular movement of an aircraft, missile, etc, about its vertical axis

2. the deviation of a vessel from a straight course

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• yawing
  present
• yawed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• yaw
  simple
• yaws
  simple
• have yawed
  perfect
• has yawed
  perfect
• am yawing
  progressive
• are yawing
  progressive
• is yawing
  progressive
• have been yawing
  perfect progressive
• has been yawing
  perfect progressive

Past

• yawed
  simple
• had yawed
  perfect
• was yawing
  progressive
• were yawing
  progressive
• had been yawing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will yaw
  simple
• will have yawed
  perfect
• will be yawing
  progressive
• will have been yawing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of yaw¹

First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain

Origin of yaw²

First recorded in 1735–45; back formation from yaws

Explanation

A yaw is a swerve off course. On a sailboat, an unexpected yaw can make you lurch to one side — and it might also make you seasick. Both as a noun and a verb, yaw basically means "swerve or twist." It's most common for this word to be used in discussions of a vehicle's movement, especially ships, airplanes, and spacecraft. A pilot might describe a jet that tends to yaw to the right, while a boat captain might warn her crew that an approaching storm will cause the ship to pitch and yaw. Etymologists believe that yaw and yacht share a root.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

yaw yaws yawed yawing

In Hover mode, the joystick provides fine-grained yaw control, allowing the BlackFly to execute its surreal pirouette.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

"The investigation found that, in the prevailing circumstances, the loss of yaw control was irrecoverable," it said in its final report on the crash.

From Reuters ● Sep. 6, 2023

Jackson is particularly proud of the clavicle, which can move forward and back as well as pitch, roll, and yaw.

From The Verge ● May 4, 2022

Retro-jets firing, a yaw and sway as the vessel settled onto the lunar surface.

From Nature ● Jun. 30, 2020

His daughter, writer Norah Christianson, remembers that he had “the body of a dancer, lithe and wiry and thin, everything in balance,” a physique ideally suited to the pitch and yaw of a horse’s withers.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Treponematosis refers to a group of diseases that includes syphilis, yaws and endemic syphilis.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

Instead, the evidence suggests the children were likely affected by a nonvenereal treponemal disease such as yaws.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

For example, we find examples of enslaved Africans who hailed from present-day Ghana describing inoculations for yaws, another contagious flesh disorder.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2023

The result: The single-dose approach reduced prevalence of active yaws by 65%, the three-dose regimen by 91%, they report today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 5, 2022

The truck yaws like a ship at sea as Neumann One coaxes it over ruts.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

High gusts whipped the plane as it moved toward the runway, and it yawed too steeply.

From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2017

The game yawed back and forth from there.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2017

Kirschvink also found a signal when the applied field yawed into the floor, as if the subject had looked up.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 23, 2016

For two days and two nights as she skirted the storm-buffeted Carolina capes, she rolled and pitched and yawed with sickening vigor.

From Time Magazine Archive

Suddenly, a sloop yawed toward them and the moon filled its half sail with bright light.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

The slanting sides of the work appear as a yawing, rusted ship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

“We must stabilize the rudder so the giant ships . . . will move forward against the wind and waves without yawing, stalling or colliding.”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2021

Last month, after a great deal of bucking and yawing, the two interested parties in shortwave affairs got in harness together on a working program.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is also one engine at each end for maneuvering, and to keep the ship from yawing while hovering.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Well, then,” said Stuart cheerfully, “I’ll sail the Wasp straight and true, and let the Lillian B. Womrath go yawing all over the pond.”

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White