swerve

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swerve

/swɜːv/ UK
/swɝv/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)v

Where it comes from

From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan (“to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to rub off; wipe; mop”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (“to turn; wipe; sweep”). Cognate with West Frisian swerve (“to wander; roam; swerve”), Dutch zwerven (“to wander; stray; roam”), Low German swarven (“to swerve; wander; riot”), Swedish dialectal svärva (“to wipe”), Icelandic sverfa (“to file”).

verb swerves · swerving · swerved · swarve

archaic To stray; to wander; to rove. A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.
To go out of a straight line; to deflect. with the slipping of the pommel , the point swerved
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. I swerve not from thy commandments.
To bend; to incline; to give way. The battle swerved.
To climb or move upward by winding or turning. The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.
To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line Snodgrass also saw a free-kick swerve just wide before Arsenal, with Walcott and Fabregas by now off the bench, turned their vastly superior possession into chances in the closing moments
To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off. The French invaders, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving.
slang, transitive To go out of one's way to avoid; to snub. If I see that type o' muthafucka in the club I just swerve him.

noun swerves · swarve

countable, uncountable A curve, bend, or deviation from a straight course or line (e.g. the winding path of a stream or a sudden change of direction to avoid an obstacle or collision.). [...] from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
countable, uncountable A deviation from duty or custom. […] indubitable evidence of a swerve from the principle of the work.
countable, uncountable Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”).
Similar: drift

Translations

Every language

verb to stray

Русский	блужда́ть bluždátʹ

verb to go out of a straight line

Português	desviar, guinar
Français	dévier
Deutsch	ausscheren
Italiano	deviare
Русский	отклоня́ться otklonjátʹsja, отклони́ться otklonítʹsja, свора́чивать svoráčivatʹ, сверну́ть svernútʹ, повора́чивать povoráčivatʹ, поверну́ть povernútʹ

verb to wander from a line, rule or duty

Français	se détourner, dévier
Italiano	deviare
Русский	отходи́ть otxodítʹ, преступа́ть prestupátʹ

verb to bend

Italiano	inclinarsi
Русский	сгиба́ться sgibátʹsja, согну́ться sognútʹsja

verb to climb or move upward

Italiano	arrampicarsi

verb to turn aside or deviate to avoid impact

Deutsch	ausweichen
Italiano	schivare, scansare, scapolare, derapare
Русский	уклоня́ться uklonjátʹsja, уклони́ться uklonítʹsja

noun sudden movement out of a straight line

Español	volantazo, cabrillazo
Português	guinada
Français	esquive
Deutsch	Schlenker, Ausweichmanöver
Italiano	sbandata, deviazione, scarto, sbalzo, scostamento

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MLA

"swerve." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/swerve. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

swerve. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/swerve

Chicago

"swerve." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/swerve.

BibTeX

@misc{swerve_2026,
  title = {swerve},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/swerve},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}