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Careen and Career
Some people might be confused by the warning to not confuse careen and career, because the most common sense of career ("a profession") is not much like any of the meanings of careen. But when employed as a verb, career does have some semantic overlap with careen; both words may be used to mean "to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner." A car, for instance, may either careen or career. Some usage guides hold, however, that the car is only careening if there is side-to-side motion, as careen has other meanings related to movement, among which is "to sway from side to side."
Synonyms
Examples of careen in a Sentence
Frederick Dreier and Adam Roy, Outside Online, 11 Nov. 2024
Since late September, the race’s trajectory tracking those postings careened wildly.
—Chris Morris, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2024
Bodies then folded over and careened down a clay, rock and dirt road segment marked as discesa pericoloso (dangerous descent) past farmhouses and chomping horses.
—Tom Mullen, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
As their affections grow more passionate, so do the flames of hatred between their respective families, sending the couple careening down an increasingly deadly path.
—EW.com, 25 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Careen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/careen. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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