sway.
The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
Meaning & usage
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.
Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
Rule; dominion; control; power.
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”)
Where this word comes from
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.
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
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?
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.
To have weight or influence.
To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
Where this word comes from
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.
Try it on your idea.
sway has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.