Synonyms of lurch

lurch 1 of 2

verb

ˈlərch 

1

as in to sway

to make a series of unsteady side-to-side motions

the room lurched with every jolt of the earthquake

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sway
• shake
• rock
• halt
• roll
• toss
• jerk
• wobble
• careen
• vibrate
• tumble
• falter
• stumble
• stagger
• vacillate
• pitch
• totter
• jolt
• waddle
• waver
• flounder
• blunder
• seesaw
• hobble
• toddle
• weave
• reel
• hitch
• oscillate
• buck
• undulate
• dodder
• wag
• teeter
• waggle

2

as in to stagger

to move forward while swaying from side to side

dressed in his zombie costume, the boy lurched down the street in his quest for Halloween candy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stagger
• shuffle
• stumble
• weave
• totter
• stomp
• roll
• waddle
• careen
• sway
• reel
• rock
• teeter
• dodder
• wobble
• waver
• shamble
• lump
• blunder
• flounder
• clump
• barge
• seesaw
• clomp
• scuffle
• stamp
• tramp
• pound
• swag
• galumph
• scuff
• lumber
• tromp

lurch

2 of 2

noun

as in washout

Related Words

• washout
• collapse
• upset
• fiasco
• setback
• debacle
• flop
• whitewash
• failure
• fizzle
• whipping
• defeat
• overthrow
• shutout
• trimming
• licking
• beating
• rout
• nonsuccess
• drubbing
• plastering
• loss
• lump
• trouncing
• shellacking

Dissimilar Words

• victory
• success
• triumph
• win
• sweep
• achievement
• accomplishment
• runaway
• landslide
• blowout
• romp
• cakewalk
• walkover
• walkaway

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of lurch

Verb

Once, somewhere in southern Virginia, Dad performed the customary lurch off the highway in the direction of a promising barbecue counter. — Rachel Tepper Paley, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 July 2026

The same boom-and-bust dependency on the oil industry, whose profits were now funnelled through the regime and its allies, kept the country lurching from one crisis to the next. — Armando Ledezma, New Yorker, 30 June 2026

Noun

The lurch from declaring fears about Iran to be mere media exaggerations to invoking imminent threat, from demanding the Nobel Peace Prize to luxuriating in lethality, is the essence of the autocrat’s monopoly on unpredictability. — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 9 Apr. 2026

The leftward lurch could cost Republicans control of Congress for the president’s final two years in office. — Steve Peoples, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026