swerve
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
swurvIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈswɝv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate.
Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
noun
A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.
A deviation from duty or custom.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
Used this way, swerve is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Nearby words
- slue , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.