1 : to shift suddenly and forcibly from one side to the other —used of a fore-and-aft sail or its boom was the most amazed when he saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by the rudder, and how the sail jibed, and filled this way or that way as the course we sailed changed— Daniel Defoethe cutter had lost all four foremost men by the violent jibing of a boom— Herman Melville

2 : to change a vessel's course when sailing with the wind so that as the stern passes through the eye of the wind the boom swings to the opposite side

transitive verb

: to cause (a sail or vessel) to jibe this maneuver was bound to force her to jibe her mainsail from one side to the other— Jack London

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Other Words from jibe Jive vs. Jibe Example Sentences Learn More About jibe

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Jive vs. Jibe

People began confusing jive and jibe almost immediately after jive entered our language in the late 1920s. In particular, jive is often used as a variant for the sense of jibe meaning “agree,” as in “that doesn’t jive with my memory of what happened.” This use of jive, although increasingly common, is widely considered to be an error. Jibe, however, is accepted as a variant spelling of an entirely different word, which is gibe (“to utter taunting words”).

Examples of jibe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb However, that account does not jibe with the confession Peck reportedly made to the police at the time of his arrest. — Clifford Ward, chicagotribune.com, 27 Jan. 2022 Sometimes games are Saturdays morning and Sunday afternoons, which jibe with his schedule. — Marc Bona, cleveland, 24 Jan. 2022 But that desire for normalcy doesn’t jibe with the unpredictability of a virus. — Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 7 Jan. 2022 Facussé was excited by the possibility that the Administration’s goals might jibe with those of his company, Dinant—a consortium with interests in palm oil, snack foods, and detergent. — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2021 That Benjamin—or any Jew, North or South—would defend slavery simply does not jibe with my practice or understanding of Jewish tradition. — Diane Cole, WSJ, 24 Sep. 2021 The celebration is universal, which does not always jibe with the petty meanness of the Shakespeare. — New York Times, 9 Aug. 2021 Bowden’s belief in forgiveness and second chances did not always jibe with critics or the NCAA. — Marc Freeman, sun-sentinel.com, 8 Aug. 2021 Bowden’s belief in forgiveness and second chances did not always jibe with critics or the NCAA. — David Whitley, orlandosentinel.com, 8 Aug. 2021 See More

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

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