Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to swerve
Participle: swerved
Gerund: swerving
Indicative
Present
| I | swerve |
| you | swerve |
| he;she;it | swerves |
| we | swerve |
| you | swerve |
| they | swerve |
Perfect
| I | have swerved |
| you | have swerved |
| he;she;it | has swerved |
| we | have swerved |
| you | have swerved |
| they | have swerved |
Past
| I | swerved |
| you | swerved |
| he;she;it | swerved |
| we | swerved |
| you | swerved |
| they | swerved |
Pluperfect
| I | had swerved |
| you | had swerved |
| he;she;it | had swerved |
| we | had swerved |
| you | had swerved |
| they | had swerved |
Future
| I | will swerve |
| you | will swerve |
| he;she;it | will swerve |
| we | will swerve |
| you | will swerve |
| they | will swerve |
Future Perfect
| I | will have swerved |
| you | will have swerved |
| he;she;it | will have swerved |
| we | will have swerved |
| you | will have swerved |
| they | will have swerved |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | swerve |
| you | swerve |
| he;she;it | swerve |
| we | swerve |
| you | swerve |
| they | swerve |
Perfect
| I | have swerved |
| you | have swerved |
| he;she;it | have swerved |
| we | have swerved |
| you | have swerved |
| they | have swerved |
Imperfect
| I | swerved |
| you | swerved |
| he;she;it | swerved |
| we | swerved |
| you | swerved |
| they | swerved |
Pluperfect
| I | had swerved |
| you | had swerved |
| he;she;it | had swerved |
| we | had swerved |
| you | had swerved |
| they | had swerved |
Conditional
Present
| I | would swerve |
| you | would swerve |
| he;she;it | would swerve |
| we | would swerve |
| you | would swerve |
| they | would swerve |
Perfect
| I | would have swerved |
| you | would have swerved |
| he;she;it | would have swerved |
| we | would have swerved |
| you | would have swerved |
| they | would have swerved |
Imperative
| you | swerve |
| we | Let's swerve |
| you | swerve |
Verbs conjugated like 'swerve'
abacinate,
abalienate,
abase,
abate,
abbreviate,
abdicate,
abduce,
aberrate,
aberuncate,
abirritate,
abjudge,
abjudicate,
abjugate,
abjure,
ablactate,
ablaqueate,
able,
ablegate,
abligate,
abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'swerve'
serve,
swarve,
asweve,
enerve,
kerve,
nerve,
perve,
sarve,
scerne,
serge,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- change course
- deviate, veer
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan (“to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to rub off; wipe; mop”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (“to turn; wipe; sweep”). Cognate with West Frisian swerve (“to wander; roam; swerve”), Dutch zwerven (“to wander; stray; roam”), Low German swarven (“to swerve; wander; riot”), Swedish dialectal svärva (“to wipe”), Icelandic sverfa (“to file”). See: Middle English '
swerven', Old English '
sweorfan', Proto-Germanic '
*swerbaną', Dutch '
zwerven', Low Saxon 'swarven'.
Sample Sentences
-
A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve. (The New Arcadia) [c. 1580 (date written), Philip Sidney, “The Fourth Booke”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1593, →OCLC, folio 216, recto:]
-
with the slipping of the pommel , the point swerved (The New Arcadia) [c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 24”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 493, recto:]
-
I swerve not from thy commandments. [1785, The Book of Common Prayer According to the Use in King's Chapel:]
-
They swerve from the strict letter of the law. [1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater:]
-
[T]here are many Perſons, who, through the Heat of their Luſts and Paſſions, through the Contagion of Ill Example, or too deep an Immerſion in the Affairs of Life, ſwerve exceedingly from the Rules of their Holy Faith; […] [1705 November 7 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Standing Revelation, the Best Means of Conviction. A Sermon Preach’d before Her Majesty, at St. James’s Chapel, on Sunday, October 28. 1705, being the Festival of St. Simon and St. Jude.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 334:]
-
The battle swerved. [1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:]
-
The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. [c. 1692, John Dryden, Amaryllis:]
-
Snodgrass also saw a free-kick swerve just wide before Arsenal, with Walcott and Fabregas by now off the bench, turned their vastly superior possession into chances in the closing moments [2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC:]
-
The French invaders, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving. [1869, Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace, Part 10, Chapter 39:]
-
If I see that type o' muthafucka in the club I just swerve him.