1
as in veers
to depart abruptly from a straight line or course
the car swerved sharply to avoid the squirrel in the road
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in curves
to turn away from a straight line or course
the bike path gently swerves to the right
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in bends
to cause to turn away from a straight line
a dog dashed out in front of me and made me swerve my bike to one side of the bike path
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of swerves
The elegant staging tries to compensate, but the performers have to rely a little too heavily on their own charms to make up the difference in a play that swerves unexpectedly at the end into a cutesy fairy tale.
—
Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026
At times comical, each of these stories swerves and plunges deep into dark truths of human nature.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
And then, quite predictably, Hacks swerves away from that pain at the last second.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 May 2026
The one who swerves first loses face but survives.
—Frank Holmes, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
The conversation swerves to the inevitable topic of AI and art.
—Erin Entrada Kelly, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
As the season swerves into Lap 2, let’s see who’s doing better (and worse) lately.
—Levi Weaver, New York Times, 4 May 2026
Duprey then swerves and slides under a vehicle.
—Mark Prussin, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2026
At first, the robot drives around a glass panel displaying an ad, but then swerves back inside the bus shelter and hits the panel without one.
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026
At times comical, each of these stories swerves and plunges deep into dark truths of human nature.
—Literary Hub, 9 June 2026
And then, quite predictably, Hacks swerves away from that pain at the last second.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 May 2026
The one who swerves first loses face but survives.
—Frank Holmes, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
The conversation swerves to the inevitable topic of AI and art.
—Erin Entrada Kelly, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
As the season swerves into Lap 2, let’s see who’s doing better (and worse) lately.
—Levi Weaver, New York Times, 4 May 2026
Duprey then swerves and slides under a vehicle.
—Mark Prussin, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2026
At first, the robot drives around a glass panel displaying an ad, but then swerves back inside the bus shelter and hits the panel without one.
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for swerves
Verb
-
Check out this 1997 live TV version of Paranoid Android, which veers from lullaby to apocalypse within the space of a few minutes.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
30 May 2026
-
But Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed almost immediately veers off into wild subplots about murder, corruption, and corporate malfeasance, as if to emphasize that low-level romance scams are just the tip of the internet’s fetid iceberg.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
20 May 2026
Verb
-
Phoebe Philo’s version, a backless white tank with a dramatic ruffle that curves across the waist and up the shoulder blades transforms the silhouette into an avant-garde sculpture.—
Diana Tsui,
Footwear News,
15 June 2026
-
About half a mile from the high school, the road curves to the left.—
Thomas Lake,
AJC.com,
4 June 2026
Verb
-
Build a fair number upstream, and the appeals layer downstream quietly bends it back.—
Dara-Abasi Ita,
Forbes.com,
10 June 2026
-
Their goal is to reproduce a 1919 eclipse experiment that measured how the sun’s gravity bends the light from distant stars and confirmed Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, according to the Spanish Scientific and Advisory Committee for the Trio of Eclipses.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
6 June 2026
Verb
-
Extra padding on the tongue and collar blow up the proportions of the silhouette, while a suede, mesh and leather upper deviates from the typical leather build.—
Ian Servantes,
Footwear News,
16 June 2026
-
That precedent deviates from the Fed major mandates and today is actually dangerous.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
31 May 2026
Verb
-
Smith arches over the patient, his body an umbrella to protect the wound.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
22 May 2026
-
The protective netting that arches over so many of the roads in the eastern Donbas region – stopping drones in their tracks – is not your friend here, but a limitation on movement.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
18 May 2026
Verb
-
Keep a core of year-round basics, then rotate a few season-specific pieces in and out as the weather turns.—
Ryan Brennan,
Charlotte Observer,
19 June 2026
-
The Free the Youth x Air Jordan 16 turns the shoe’s hallmark shroud into a component for choosing your own adventure.—
Ian Servantes,
Footwear News,
18 June 2026
Verb
-
Armour hooks my arm, and the panic abates.—
Adam Erace,
Fortune,
24 May 2026
-
Marketing experts say while more and more cash is flowing into the clip-ification of all things, those watching the content can view clips as cheap and disposable moments, not something that hooks someone on a show or internet personality.—
Bobby Allyn,
NPR,
12 May 2026
Verb
-
Marie dips them in paint and swings them like a brush, leaving thick, violent marks across a white canvas.—
Nia Dumas,
NPR,
16 June 2026
-
Think about a car door that swings open near a cyclist.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
15 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Swerves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swerves. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
