sway

«sway» in Mova's school dictionary: to move slowly from side to side, like trees in the wind… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (sway, sways, swayed, swaying); noun (sway)

meaning for a pupil

1) To sway is to move slowly from side to side, like trees in the wind or a person dancing. tree →

2) To sway someone is to change their opinion or make them decide something. tree →

3) Sway (noun) is power or influence over people: «hold sway». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories and poems «sway» describes gentle movement: «the trees swayed in the breeze», «the boat swayed on the waves». In science, tall buildings and bridges are built to sway a little in wind or earthquakes rather than break. In lessons on persuasion, an advert tries «to sway you» to buy something. Phrases: «sway in the wind», «sway to the music», «hold sway», «be swayed by».

examples

• The trees swayed in the wind. tree →
• We swayed to the music. tree →
• The boat swayed from side to side. tree →
• Tall towers sway slightly in strong winds. tree →
• Don't be swayed by adverts. tree →
• His speech swayed the class to vote for him. tree →
• The rope bridge swayed as we crossed. tree →
• The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and cried. tree →

note

Past: swayed. «Sway» is gentle; «swing» is a bigger movement on a fixed point. Being «swayed» by friends is not always bad, but think for yourself.

In the corpora

• A stick insect sways like a twig in the wind and drops to the floor stiff as a stick when touched.
• Tall buildings even sway a little in the wind on purpose, because a building that can bend a little does not snap.
• Buildings made to bend and sway a little stand up to earthquakes better than stiff brick ones.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sway» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.