sway
/ˈswe̞(ː)/UK/ˈsweɪ̯/
sway noun: the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
Noun
sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)
- The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
- A rocking or swinging motion.
- The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.
- Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
- I doubt I'll hold much sway with someone so powerful.
- Though both Mr. Knight and Mr. 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
- Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
- Rule; dominion; control; power.
- Prospero:[…]Confederates / (ſo drie he was for Sway) with King of Naples / To giue him Annuall tribute, doe him homage / Subiect his Coronet, to his Crowne and bend / The Dukedom yet vnbow'd (alas poore Millaine) / To moſt ignoble ſtooping.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- Prayuth's return as prime minister takes Thailand back to 1980s. 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, retrieved 09 Jun 2019
- A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
- The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.
- Synonym of sweet flag (“Acorus calamus”)
- Synonyms:
- sweet flag
Verb
sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)
- To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.
- sway to the music
- The trees swayed in the breeze.
- To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
- to sway the sceptre
- As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 42
- To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.
- Do you think you can sway their decision?
- This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To 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
- To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.
- to sway up the yards
- To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
- euen in these Personall Respects, the Ballance swayes on our part: […]a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount...
- To have weight or influence.
- The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
- Hadst thou swayed as kings should do.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Proper noun capitalized: Sway
Sway
- A village and civil parish in New Forest district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SZ2798).
sway meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sway in Hindi
- to sway
- झूमना jhūmnā
- to sway, ripple
- छलकना chalaknā
sway in Tamil
- அசைவு, தடுமாறு, தயங்கு, தள்ளாடு, தள்ளாட்டம்
sway in Marathi
- to sway
- झुलणे j̈hulṇe
sway in Urdu
- to sway
- ڈگمگانا ḍagmagānā
More languagesFewer languages
- sway in Bengali
- দোলা, প্রভাবিত করা
- sway in Malayalam
- ഇളക്കം iḷakkaṁ
- sway in Kannada
- ತೂಗು, ಬದಿಗೆ ಬಾಗು, ಒನಸು, ತಳರು
- sway in Gujarati
- બોલબાલા bolbālā
- sway in Malay
- koiri
- sway in Vietnamese
- đu, đung đưa
Examples of sway in a sentence
- […] the slowly dawning realisation that, as the billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz put it, they have “no sway” over what they unleashed.2025 June 9, Gaby Hinsliff, quoting Michael Moritz, “Trump has unleashed something terrifying in the US – that even he may be powerless to...
- The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways / Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays1975, Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road”, in Born to Run, performed by Bruce Springsteen:
- After all this time […] the woman who endured all that by focusing on her hit list can be swayed from her course by the prospect of her family and her home.2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:
- Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.1664, John Tillotson, “Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson...
Synonyms of sway
Forms of sway
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sways |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sways |
| present participle | swaying |
| past participle | swayed |
| past | swayed |
Origin of sway
From earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old English *swǣġan (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-West Germanic *swaigijan, from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- See also Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”); also Lithuanian svai̇̃gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬱𐬑𐬎𐬀𐬑𐬙𐬀 (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit स्वजते (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”). The noun derived from the verb.
From Old English svieia (“noisy stream”) (see swegan (“to make a noise”)), probably referring to the river Avon.
Words formed from sway
Phrases with sway
Words that rhyme with sway
Questions about sway
- What does sway mean?
- Sway means the act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
- What is sway in Hindi?
- Sway in Hindi is झूमना (jhūmnā), छलकना (chalaknā). See Sway meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sway in a sentence?
- […] the slowly dawning realisation that, as the billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz put it, they have “no sway” over what they unleashed.
- What part of speech is sway?
- Sway can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sway?
- Sway is pronounced /ˈsweɪ̯/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sway?
- The plural of sway is sways.
Words near sway in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sway (page history and authors); Sway (page history and authors); छलकना (Hindi) (page history and authors); sway (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); झुलणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); ڈگمگانا (Urdu) (page history and authors); sway (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ഇളക്കം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sway (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); બોલબાલા (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sway.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sway.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.