Did you know?
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
Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2024
There, waves produced by muscle and breath — the scrape of horsehair on string, or a player’s exhalation rushing into a metal tube — careen from wall to wall, acquiring character from every surface, then beat against cartilage and vibrate against skin.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 16 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for careen 
Articles Related to careen
Dictionary Entries Near careen
Cite this Entry
“Careen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/careen. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share