yaw

verb

yawed; yawing; yaws

intransitive verb

1

a

of a ship : to deviate erratically from a course (as when struck by a heavy sea)

especially : to move from side to side

b

of an airplane, spacecraft, or projectile : to turn by angular motion about the vertical axis

2

: alternate

… restlessly yawing between apparent extremes …

—Martin Kasindorf

Did you know?

In the heyday of large sailing ships, numerous nautical words appeared on the horizon. Yaw is one such word. Its origin isn't exactly known, but it began turning up in print in the 16th century, first as a noun (meaning "movement off course" or "side to side movement") and then as a verb. For centuries, it remained a sailing word—often alongside pitch ("to have the front end rise and fall")—with occasional extended use as a synonym of the verb alternate. When the era of airplane flight dawned, much of the vocabulary of sailing found new life in aeronautics, and "yawing" was no longer confined to the sea. Nowadays, yaw, pitch, and roll are just as likely to be used by pilots and rocket scientists to describe the motion of their crafts.

Synonyms of yaw

• veer
• curve

Examples of yaw in a Sentence

the ship yawed hard to the right when the rogue wave hit it broadside

Recent Examples on the Web

The out-of-control motion radiated down to the spacecraft itself, which began yawing and pitching in response to the force. —Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 Nov. 2025

The scene in the lobby yawed from hysteric to melancholic and back—hundreds of people surrounded by tote bags and dogs, trading rumors, bleak jokes, and fragments of actual news. —Dana Goodyear, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025

Most airplanes in the world have vertical tails or rudders to prevent Dutch roll instabilities, a combination of yawing and sideways motions with rolling that looks a bit like the movements of a skater. —Ars Technica, 27 Nov. 2024

In the event of acceleration or yawing towards one side, the sensors will come into play, signaling the control unit and in turn the motor to counter the forces on the sidecar's wheel. —New Atlas, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1586, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for yaw

• aah
• ah
• ahh
• aw
• awe
• bah
• blah
• bra
• caw
• claw
• craw
• daw

Kids Definition

yaw

verb

ˈyȯ

: to turn suddenly from a straight course : swerve, veer

heavy seas made the ship yaw

yaw noun

Medical Definition

yaw

noun

ˈyȯ 

: one of the lesions characteristic of yaws see mother yaw