as in to veer
to depart abruptly from a straight line or course
the ship yawed hard to the right when the rogue wave hit it broadside
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Recent Examples of yaw
Every other car feels solid, locked-in, makes downforce in a straight line, rather than yawed out.
—
Jeff Gluck, The Athletic, 3 July 2024
The plane yawed left and right, dipped and climbed to avoid the flocks, churning my stomach like a roller coaster.
—Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2023
The vertical stabilizer or rudder enables sideways yawing movement (and helps counter-act such movement from crosswinds) while horizontal stabilizers help pitch the aircraft up or down.
—Sebastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2023
Combining that data with a simple wind model, the algorithm projected that yawing each of the five upstream turbines about 20 degrees to the north would maximize the group's generation from the northwest winds.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for yaw
Jeff Gluck, The Athletic, 3 July 2024
The plane yawed left and right, dipped and climbed to avoid the flocks, churning my stomach like a roller coaster.
—Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2023
The vertical stabilizer or rudder enables sideways yawing movement (and helps counter-act such movement from crosswinds) while horizontal stabilizers help pitch the aircraft up or down.
—Sebastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2023
Combining that data with a simple wind model, the algorithm projected that yawing each of the five upstream turbines about 20 degrees to the north would maximize the group's generation from the northwest winds.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for yaw
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yaw
Verb
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Jimenez was a passenger in a northbound 2023 Nissan Sentra that veered off SR-125 near Spring Street and struck a 2007 Mercedes-Benz E350 parked on the right-hand shoulder, the CHP reported.—
City News Service,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Nov. 2025
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The vehicle then suddenly veered into a ditch, crashed and rolled onto its passenger side, trapping the woman.—
Jim Riccioli,
jsonline.com,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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So much of Brazil strains the imagination—the interminable skyline of São Paulo, the beaches of Rio curving between monoliths of granite, the aquamarine pools trapped between the undulating dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses.—
William O'Connor,
Travel + Leisure,
5 Nov. 2025
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But by the early 19th century, some mathematicians had started exploring other kinds of geometric spaces — ones that aren’t flat but rather curved like a sphere or saddle.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Yaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yaw. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.
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