swerve
part of speech
verb (swerve, swerves, swerved, swerving); noun (a swerve, swerves)
meaning for a pupil
1) To swerve is to change direction suddenly, especially to avoid hitting something: the car swerved to miss the dog. tree →
2) A swerve is a sudden change of direction. tree →
3) (UK, slang) To swerve something is to avoid it on purpose: I swerved that party. tree →
sense in the lessons
In road safety lessons, cars and bikes may swerve, so look carefully before crossing. In sports, a ball can swerve in the air; a player swerves past a defender. In stories it shows sudden danger. Phrases: swerve to avoid, swerve off the road, make a swerve.
examples
- The bus swerved to avoid a fallen tree. tree →
- The cyclist swerved and nearly fell off. tree →
- His free kick swerved into the top corner of the goal. tree →
- She swerved past two defenders and scored. tree →
- The car made a sudden swerve. tree →
- Never run into the road: a driver may not be able to swerve in time. tree →
- I'm going to swerve the maths club today, said Leo (slang). tree →
note
Regular verb: swerved, swerving. Similar words: veer, turn sharply, dodge. The slang meaning «avoid» is UK teenage talk, not used in formal writing.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «swerve» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.