zigzag

[zig-zag]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR zigzag ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a line, course, or progression characterized by sharp turns first to one side and then to the other.

one of a series of such turns, as in a line or path.

adjective

proceeding or formed in a zigzag: zigzag stitches.

adverb

with frequent sharp turns from side to side; in a zigzag manner: The child ran zigzag along the beach.

verb (used with object), zig·zagged, zig·zag·ging.

to make (something) zigzag, as in form or course; move or maneuver (something) in a zigzag direction: They zigzagged their course to confuse the enemy.

verb (used without object), zig·zagged, zig·zag·ging.

to proceed in a zigzag line or course.

Origin of zigzag

1705–15; < French; replacing earlier ziczac < French < German zickzack, gradational compound based on Zacke tack¹

Related formszig·zag·ged·ness

[zig-zag-id-nis] /ˈzɪgˌzæg ɪd nɪs/, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for zigzag

irregular, diagonal, rambling, meandering, crooked, serrated, inclined, twisted, undulating, oblique, winding, bent, jagged, sloping, fluctuating, twisting, snaking, askew, awry, devious

Examples from the Web for zigzag

Contemporary Examples of zigzag

The first was christened by the great etiquette guru Emily Post as “zigzag” eating.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’
Bee Wilson
October 13, 2012

Historical Examples of zigzag

Where the drawing is white, cover the page with zigzag lines.
Modern Painters Volume I (of V)
John Ruskin
The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks.
Essays, First Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson
And there she was, waiting for them in the wet, at the first turn of the zigzag.
Where Angels Fear to Tread
E. M. Forster
The lines of wall, floor and ceiling were strangely off proportion, zigzag, unrelated.
Warm
Robert Sheckley
Carmena dropped it at his feet and began to zigzag down the mesa side.
Bloom of Cactus
Robert Ames Bennet

British Dictionary definitions for zigzag

zigzag

noun

a line or course characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions

one of the series of such turns

something having the form of a zigzag

adjective

(usually prenominal) formed in or proceeding in a zigzag

(of sewing machine stitches) produced in a zigzag by a swing needle used for joining stretch fabrics, neatening raw edges, etc

adverb

in a zigzag manner

verb -zags, -zagging or -zagged

to proceed or cause to proceed in a zigzag

(tr) to form into a zigzag

Derived Formszigzaggedness, nounzigzagger, noun

Word Origin for zigzag

C18: from French, from German zickzack, from Zacke point, jagged projection; see tack 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012