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

The first three episodes are a disaster, taking 90 minutes to establish a premise that needs to be wrapped up in the pilot, and littering the plot with enough holes to send even a more polished vehicle careening off track. —Ben Travers, IndieWire, 9 Apr. 2026

Following the flyby, 2026 GD will continue along a 644-day elliptical path that takes it beyond the orbit of Mars before careening back towards the sun. —Anthony Wood, Space.com, 9 Apr. 2026

Pena was shifted perfectly up the middle to field it and step on second for the third out, but the grounder careened off the bag into the outfield for an RBI double. —Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 7 Apr. 2026

During just the first hour of Tuesday’s trading, the Dow careened between a gain of 74 points and a loss of 425. —Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 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
• amine
• arene
• athene
• baleen
• beeline
• benzene
• between

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