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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Careen

/kəˈɹiːn/ · verb

Meaning

(nautical, transitive) To heave a ship down on one side so as to expose the other, in order to clean it of barnacles and weed, or to repair it below the water line..

Definitions by Sense

  1. (nautical, transitive) To heave a ship down on one side so as to expose the other, in order to clean it of barnacles and weed, or to repair it below the water line.
  2. (nautical, intransitive) To tilt on one side.
  3. (intransitive) To lurch or sway violently from side to side.
  4. (intransitive) To tilt or lean while in motion.
  5. (intransitive, chiefly US) To career, to move rapidly straight ahead, to rush carelessly.
  6. (intransitive, chiefly US) To move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way.
  7. (nautical) The position of a ship laid on one side.

Example Sentences

However, to avoid ſome inconveniencies relating to port duties, which would have been demanded in the port of Canton, and could not, in honour to the British flag, be complied with by us, he adviſed Mr Anſon to put into the harbour of Typa, about ſix miles from Macao, where he might careen his ſhip without diſturbance ; and actually ſent us a pilot to conduct us ſafe to the intended birth.
They were not motionless, but swayed to and fro above her head, thronging out of one sky-light into another, as if the universe and not the air-ship was careening.
The car in which I had taken Olivia to dinner and then out to the cemetery — a historic vehicle, even a monument of sorts, in the history of fellatio's advent onto the Winesburg campus in the second half of the twentieth century — went careening off to the side and turned end-over-end down Lower Main until it exploded in flames...
He tries for a lot of things, careening wildly from earnest romance to feel-good comedy to hackneyed suspense, all the while leaving it up to the audience to suss out the moral complexity and existential terror underneath the glossy surface.

Synonyms for careen

heelshiftlurchstaggertiltkeelswagwobblereelrocksway

Antonyms for careen

Related Words

keelrocktiltswayshiftswagwobblelurchreelstaggerlistheave-toheave tokeelhaulamainpay offdebarnacleouthaulhaul outunreef

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does careen mean?

Careen means (nautical, transitive) To heave a ship down on one side so as to expose the other, in order to clean it of barnacles and weed, or to repair it below the water line..

What is a synonym for careen?

Common synonyms include heel, shift, lurch, stagger.

What is the opposite of careen?

The opposite depends on the specific sense.

How do you use careen in a sentence?

However, to avoid ſome inconveniencies relating to port duties, which would have been demanded in the port of Canton, and could not, in honour to the British flag, be complied with by us, he adviſed Mr Anſon to put into the harbour of Typa, about ſix miles from Macao, where he might careen his ſhip without diſturbance ; and actually ſent us a pilot to conduct us ſafe to the intended birth.

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.