careen

1 of 2

verb

ca·​reen kə-ˈrēn 

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.

careen

2 of 2

noun

archaic

: the act or process of careening : the state of being careened

Did you know?

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."

Synonyms of careen

Verb

• lurch
• sway
• rock
• shake

Examples of careen in a Sentence

Verb

the sled careened as it barreled down the hill

he careened unsteadily to the couch after hitting his head

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Rules like this, almost certainly, will come into play as AI leaders Anthropic and OpenAI careen toward trillion-dollar-plus IPOs. — Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2026

And at twilight, New Orleans bandleader and composer Jon Batiste delivered a contagious tour-de-force of joy and struggle, careening from ragtime classics to contemporary numbers. — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2026

And the plot careens from one incident to the next, sometimes landing on a random sight gag or odd digression. — Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026

In moments, the two cars are careening along an autocross course amidst a backdrop of billowing smoke—a cacophony of screaming engines and tires accompanies as soundtrack to the precise automotive choreography. — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Verb

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

First Known Use

Verb

1578, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

1712, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for careen

• agin
• alkene
• allene
• ameen
• amin
• arene
• athene
• baleen
• beeline
• benzene
• between
• bromine

Kids Definition

careen

verb

ca·​reen

kə-ˈrēn

1

: to cause a boat to lean or tilt over on one side for cleaning or repairing

2

: to sway from side to side

3

: career entry 2