swerve

American  

[swurv] / swɜrv /

verb (used without object)

swerved, swerving

1. to turn aside abruptly in movement or direction; deviate suddenly from the straight or direct course.

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verb (used with object)

swerved, swerving

1. to cause to turn aside.

   Nothing could swerve him.

noun

1. an act of swerving; turning aside.

swerve British  

/ swɜːv /

verb

1. to turn or cause to turn aside, usually sharply or suddenly, from a course

2. (tr) to avoid (a person or event)

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noun

1. the act, instance, or degree of swerving

Related Words

See deviate.

Other Word Forms

• swervable adjective
• swerver noun
• unswerved adjective
• unswerving adjective
• unswervingly adverb
• unswervingness noun

Etymology

Origin of swerve

1175–1225; Middle English swerven (v.); Old English sweorfan to rub, file; cognate with Dutch zwerven to rove, Old High German swerban, Old Norse sverfa to file, Gothic afswairban to wipe off

Explanation

The noun swerve means a sudden turn off your path. As a verb, it means to move off your original route, possibly to avoid a collision. You can swerve either toward something or away from it. The word swerve can be traced to the Old English sweorfan, "to turn aside," which is precisely the modern sense. It was first used as a verb in the 13th century and as a noun in the 18th. Swerve refers to a sudden veering off, perhaps not as sharp as a turn, but more a bending of your path. Think of the trajectory as an arc or curve, and remember that swerve rhymes with curve.

Example Sentences

I want to swerve here to talk about the word that keeps coming to mind when I look at the president’s leadership, and it is “mood.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

"When you are driving there are times you don't see them until the very last minute and these, with the cars bigger, it's harder to swerve out of the way."

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2026

This was a hard swerve from Pittman’s inoffensive baseball posting from just a few weeks before.

From Slate • Jan. 22, 2026

The brewer said early last month that production at six beer factories had resumed, while it was processing orders by hand in an effort to swerve potential drinks shortages.

From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025

It was hard to keep secrets; you had to keep track of them, regulate how they moved through your body, make sure they didn’t swerve and jump out of your mouth.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

Related Words

• deflect
• lurch
• skid
• stray
• veer