How to use sway in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Sway means the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon. Example: “The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.”

Examples of sway by meaning

nounA rocking or swinging motion.

The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.

nounInfluence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side.

I doubt I'll hold much sway with someone so powerful.
Hennessey view themselves as traders first, the “finfluencer” culture has flourished with the surge in online interest, and they have considerable sway.2021 April 28, Tara Siegel Bernard, “Trading Stock Tips on TikTok, Newbies Are Deeply Invested in Learning”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

nounRule; dominion; control; power.

Military still holds sway in a democracy that has yet to mature.2019 June 8, Toru Takahashi, “Prayuth's return as prime minister takes Thailand back to 1980s”, in Nikkei Asian Review, Nikkei Inc...

verbTo move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

sway to the music
The trees swayed in the breeze.

verbTo move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.

to sway the sceptre

verbTo influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare...

Do you think you can sway their decision?

verbTo cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.

reeds swayed by the wind
judgment swayed by passion

verbTo hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

to sway up the yards

More sentences with sway

The tree was swaying in the breeze and tapping on the window pane.From the entry tap
The cutlery was chinging as the boat swayed around on the sea.From the entry ching
A ship surges forwards, sways sideways and heaves up.From the entry surge
I eventually found the source of the flutter, which came from clothes on a clothesline swaying with the wind.From the entry flutter
Outside the window, birch trees swayed in the wind and the sun dipped toward the Green Mountains.2026 June 14, Eli Saslow, Erin Schaff, “The World’s Leading Deepfake Expert No Longer Trusts His Own Eyes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry Green Mountains
The corsair's galiots, lying at anchor off the shore, were rocking and swaying wildly in the storm.2024 April 26, Stephen Sturgess, The Daughter of The Merchant of Venice, Austin Macauley Publishers, →ISBN. From the entry skirl
Fikayo Tomori, the Chelsea defender, sang “championes, championes” with his winners’ medal swaying from side to side.2017 June 11, Ben Fisher, “England seal Under-20 World Cup glory as Dominic Calvert-Lewin strikes”, in The Guardian, archived from the…. From the entry double up
It moved seamlessly between New York freneticism and the languid sway of the son dance style .2015 July 1, John Fordham, “Loz Speyer review – genre-bending trumpeter deserves a bigger stage”, in The Guardian. From the entry freneticism
It is the world’s largest buyer of oil, which gives China substantial sway over petropolitics.2015 July 24, Clifford Krauss, “China’s Global Ambitions, With Loans and Strings Attached”, in New York Times. From the entry petropolitics
And I suppose to some extent my colonial interest swayed the decision a bit.2011, Tim Bowden, No Tern Unstoned: Musings at Breakfast. From the entry reissuing
An old jail lock hanging on the wall swayed back and forth.2009, Michael Norman, The Nearly Departed, →ISBN. From the entry jail lock
Pile on with more raucous singing, swaying and swilling at the DANK-Haus Oktoberfest party.2007 September 28, Beth Geraci, “A stein frenzy”, in RedEye, Chicago, Ill., page 41. From the entry lederhosed
Sway, flowers, leaning like reeds in a wave, More motionable than insects.2006, Theodore Roethke, David Wagoner, Straw for the Fire. From the entry motionable
Don't be swayed by minor setbacks: Don't confuse minor shifts with sea-changes.2003, Vince Lombardi, Jr., “Think Big Picture”, in The Lombardi Rules: 26 Lessons from Vince Lombardi, the World’s Greatest Coach…. From the entry sea change
So when Saljuqians held their sway on Baghdad they controlled Syia too.2001, Akbar Shah Khan Najibabadi, History of Islam, Vol. II, p. 503. From the entry Saljuqian
These toppings impart a swaying motion to anyone climbing a rope grappled onto them, making climbing difficult.1997, European Conference on Security and Detection - ECOS97, Incorporating the One Day Symposium on Technology Used for Combating Fraud…. From the entry grapple
Pencil-thin, cigarette-wielding women swayed to the rhythm of jazz bands, and unprecedented quantities of wine were consumed.1994, Mary Louise Roberts, “Introduction: ‘This Civilization No Longer has Sexes’”, in Civilization without Sexes: Reconstructing Gender…. From the entry pencil-thin
They sit on saturnic moons, they sway far out in the interstellar spaces.1991, Giovanna Capone, European Perspectives: Contemporary Essays on Australian Literature, page 96. From the entry saturnic
They each held their sway over a dozenful harems of white chickens.1990, Karen King-Aribisala, “Untailored Time”, in Our Wife & Other Stories, Lagos: Malthouse Press Limited, →ISBN, page 154. From the entry dozenful
Their projection is masculine, but their sway and curvaceousness are feminine.1986 August 24, William Zimmer, “Mayan Themes in Stamford Sculpture Show”, in New York Times, page CN28. From the entry curvaceousness
Fir trees, pregnant with snowchild, sway heavily in the gilding sun.1979, David Green, A Pacific Crest Odyssey: Walking the Trail from Mexico to Canada, Wilderness Press, →ISBN, page 112. From the entry snowchild
He found himself swaying urgently backwards on the narrow plank beneath his feet.1977, Lillian O'Donnell, Aftershock, page 128. From the entry parchedly
They sway to and fro and are not knocked completely over.1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 169. From the entry kelly
The top of the tree begins swaying drunkenly, as if struggling to keep on its feet.1961, Robert S. Close, With Hooves of Brass, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 34. From the entry timber
The swaying of the camel is just enough to tire you out gradually, gently.1938, John Dos Passos, “[Orient Express: 1921-1926] The Stony Desert of Damascus”, in Journeys between Wars, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt…. From the entry leisurelier
These tunes have a taste of unearthliness—like a swaying mist which loses itself in infinity.1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 411. From the entry unearthliness
He swayed over to the door, peered out, shouted "whey!" and came back, looking severe.1928, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Waste Corner. From the entry whey
The wagon creaked, swayed, moved on to strange accompaniment— clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.1925, Zane Grey, The Thundering Herd. From the entry clip-clop
Beware lest thy mind be swayed by the brow-beating of the Demons.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 26. From the entry browbeat

Meaning of sway

noun The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
noun A rocking or swinging motion.
noun Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side.

Full definition of sway

Questions about sway in a sentence

How do you use sway in a sentence?: Sway is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.”
What is a short sentence with sway?: “judgment swayed by passion”
What does sway mean?: Sway means the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.

Adapted from Wiktionary: sway (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use sway in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.