SWAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sway mean? 

• SWAY (noun)
  The noun SWAY has 2 senses:

1. controlling influence

2. pitching dangerously to one side

  Familiarity information: SWAY used as a noun is rare.

• SWAY (verb)
  The verb SWAY has 4 senses:

1. move back and forth or sideways

2. move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner

3. win approval or support for

4. cause to move back and forth

  Familiarity information: SWAY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Controlling influence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("sway" is a kind of...):

power; powerfulness (possession of controlling influence)

Derivation:

sway (move back and forth or sideways)

sway (win approval or support for)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pitching dangerously to one side

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

careen; rock; sway; tilt

Hypernyms ("sway" is a kind of...):

lurch; pitch; pitching (abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other conveyance))

Derivation:

sway (move back and forth or sideways)

sway (cause to move back and forth)

sway (move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner)

• SWAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sway    ... he / she / it sways   
Past simple: swayed   
Past participle: swayed   
-ing form: swaying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move back and forth or sideways

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

rock; shake; sway

Context example:

She rocked back and forth on her feet

Hypernyms (to "sway" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Verb group:

rock; sway (cause to move back and forth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sway"):

roll (move, rock, or sway from side to side)

nutate (rock, sway, or nod; usually involuntarily)

swag (sway heavily or unsteadily)

totter (move without being stable, as if threatening to fall)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence examples:

The crowds sway in the streets
The streets sway with crowds

Derivation:

sway (pitching dangerously to one side)

sway (controlling influence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

sway; swing

Context example:

He swung back

Hypernyms (to "sway" is one way to...):

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sway"):

waver; weave (sway from side to side)

lash (lash or flick about sharply)

oscillate; vibrate (move or swing from side to side regularly)

brachiate (swing from one hold to the next)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

sway (pitching dangerously to one side)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Win approval or support for

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

carry; persuade; sway

Context example:

His speech did not sway the voters

Hypernyms (to "sway" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Verb group:

carry (win in an election)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

sway (controlling influence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to move back and forth

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

rock; sway

Context example:

the wind swayed the trees gently

Hypernyms (to "sway" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Verb group:

rock; shake; sway (move back and forth or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

sway (pitching dangerously to one side)

 Context examples 

At the same moment I swayed, as about to fall to the sand.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

‘You must drop it, Mr. Holmes,’ said he, swaying his face about. ‘You really must, you know.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was dressed entirely in black, and I noticed that his shoulders swayed a little as if he had been drinking.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As the weeks passed, however, they became fewer and less violent, as Alleyne's firm and constant nature gained sway and influence over the Lady Maude.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And who was to say that such a remembrance might not sway the balance of their judgment just a trifle in his favor?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You are never sure of a good impression being durable; everybody may sway it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

For, indeed, who is there alive that will not be swayed by his bias and partiality to the place of his birth?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

High reeds of a peculiar type grew thickly before us, which were pronounced to be equisetacea, or mare's-tails, with tree-ferns scattered amongst them, all of them swaying in a brisk wind.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the extreme limits of his reason.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)