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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."
Examples of careen in a Sentence
Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Donatich’s whipsmart script is character-driven, witty and wise in giving each of them a distinct personality as their decisions start to careen out of control.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 7 Sep. 2025
There’s no word on whether the careening bullet train will allow for drag queen fashion and performance challenges typical of the Drag Race TV series.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2025
André Marques was killed when the tram derailed during evening rush hour in Lisbon, Portugal and went careening into a building, Sitra (Transport Workers' Union) announced this afternoon.
—Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for careen
Cite this Entry
“Careen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/careen. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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