careen

verb ca·reen \ kə-ˈrēn \

|Updated on: 7 Jul 2018

Examples: careen in a Sentence

Editor's Note: careen and career

Definition of careen

careened; careening; careens

transitive verb

1 : to put (a ship or boat) on a beach especially in order to clean, caulk, or repair the hull

2 : to cause to heel over

High waves careened the boat.

intransitive verb

1 a : to clean, caulk, or repair the hull of a boat

b : to undergo this process

2 : to heel over

3 : to sway from side to side : lurch

a careening carriage being pulled wildly … by a team of runaway horses
—J. P. Getty

4 : career

The car careened down the hill.

See careen defined for English-language learners

See careen defined for kids

Examples of careen in a Sentence

the sled careened as it barreled down the hill
he careened unsteadily to the couch after hitting his head

Recent Examples of careen from the Web

As his golf balls careened and crashed through the trees, Frazier, a 2018 St. Xavier grad, found something that would alter the trajectory of his life.

— adam baum, Cincinnati.com, "St. Xavier's Cameron Frazier caps historic career with Ohio Junior Golf Championship," 27 June 2018
Screeching, wheeling and careening into the walls of their cage, making a rattling sound like tiny tornados whipping around a picket fence.

— nojan aminosharei, Marie Claire, "Aubrey Plaza Was Never April Ludgate," 13 June 2018
On the 173rd lap of the race, Ed Carpenter and Wickens collided heading into Turn 4, sending both cars careening into the wall and ending the night for both.

— jim ayello, Indianapolis Star, "IndyCar: Scott Dixon moves into 3rd place on all time wins list with triumph at Texas," 9 June 2018
The car rolled several times and careened into a deep ravine, but every other member of his family survived the crash.

— connor sheets, AL.com, "From Guanajuato to Alabama: Young immigrant follows father's community organizing path," 15 Feb. 2018
The pole that came careening through the windshield missed her carseat by mere inches in a true brush with death.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "An "Angel" Saved This Toddler From a Terrifying Car Crash," 27 July 2016
Every scene seems to cascade into the next, with increasing momentum, like these people are all already careening into the next fateful era—the height of the Reagan years—and don't even know it.

— k. austin collins, HWD, "Why We Still Love The Last Days of Disco," 29 May 2018
The story rollicks from 1964 to 1971, careening downhill.

— New York Times, "A Novel of Kentucky Noir, So Humane It’s Bathed in Light," 23 May 2018
Netanyahu's stunning reversal was just the latest twist in a policy that has careened from detentions to deportations as Israel struggles with how to deal with the migrants.

— tia goldenberg, Fox News, "Israel's African migrants in limbo after Netanyahu reversal," 4 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'careen.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

careen and career

Some people might be confused by the warning to not confuse careen and career, because the most common sense of career ("a profession") is not much like any of the meanings of careen. But when employed as a verb, career does have some semantic overlap with careen; both words may be used to mean "to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner." A car, for instance, may either careen or career. Some usage guides hold, however, that the car is only careening if there is side-to-side motion, as careen has other meanings related to movement, among which is "to sway from side to side."

Origin and Etymology of careen

from carine side of a ship, from Medieval French, submerged part of a hull, from Latin carina hull, half of a nutshell; perhaps akin to Greek karyon nut

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1583

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year