sway
pronunciation
How to pronounce sway in British English:
UK [sweɪ]
How to pronounce sway in American English:
US [sweɪ]
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- Noun:
- controlling influence
- pitching dangerously to one side
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- Verb:
- move back and forth or sideways
- move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner
- win approval or support for
- cause to move back and forth
Word Origin
- sway (v.)
- early 14c., "move, go, go quickly; move (something) along, carry," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse sveigja "to bend, swing, give way," Old Danish svegja, perhaps merged with an unrecorded Old English cognate. The whole group might be related to swag (v.) and swing (v.). The sense of "swing, waver, move in a swaying or sweeping motion" is from late 14c. Meaning "move from side to side" is from c. 1500; transitive sense "cause to move from side to side" is from 1550s (according to OED, not common before 19c.). Figurative sense "cause to be directed toward one side, prejudice" is from 1590s. Related: Swayed; swaying.
- sway (n.)
- c. 1300, "movement from side to side," from sway (v.). The meaning "controlling influence" (as in to be under the sway of) is from 1510s, from a transitive sense of the verb in Dutch and other languages.
Example
- 1. His successors at the fed will have much less global sway .
- 2. Such considerations are unlikely to sway those with genuinely strategic positions .
- 3. Investors received only minority stakes and limited sway over corporate governance .
- 4. Their loony images make them sway in their own tune making them this susceptible .
- 5. British commanders were also concerned that recent casualties could sway opinion .