Pivot

/ˈpɪv.ɪt/ · noun

Meaning

A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle..

Definitions by Sense

1. A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Something or someone having a paramount significance in a certain situation.
3. Act of turning on one foot.
4. (military) The officer or soldier who simply turns in his place while the company or line moves around him in wheeling.
5. (roller derby) A player with responsibility for co-ordinating their team in a particular jam.
6. (programming) An element of a set to be sorted that is chosen as a midpoint, so as to divide the other elements into two groups to be dealt with recursively.
7. (computing) A pivot table.
8. (graphical user interface) Any of a row of captioned elements used to navigate to subpages, rather like tabs.

Example Sentences

The weight of the body and the traction and braking forces are taken by the conventional dished bogie centre pivot with phosphor-bronze liner; this type of centre pivot facilitates passage over marshalling yard humps.

“The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached ; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas.[…]”

Sandy Weill was the man who stitched Citigroup together in the 1990s and in the process helped bury the Glass-Steagall act, a Depression-era law separating retail and investment banking. Last month he performed a perfect pivot: he now wants regulators to undo his previous work.

Synonyms for pivot

Antonyms for pivot

Related Words

Word Forms

• pivots
• pivoting
• pivoted

Usage Notes

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

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