Author Topic: Careening vs. Careering (Read 1729 times)

mackillian · « **on:** May 16, 2005, 08:49:17 AM »

Okay, which do you use where?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2005, 09:20:55 AM »

Careen means "to sway or lurch," while career means "to speed in a course." It looks like the usual error is that people use the former to mean the latter.

AFR · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2005, 09:30:01 AM »

I would say "The car went careening into a wall" but "The car went careering down the highway." That's just off the top of my head. Careening means uncontrollable movement while careering means a barely-controlled balls-out headlong rush.

Jonathon · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2005, 10:10:21 AM »

Yeah, what he said. Good examples, AFR.

mackillian · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2005, 10:16:22 AM »

Okay. That's what I THOUGHT I'd learned. I saw two instances today where the wrong word was used. Irritated me, but I thought I'd check to make sure I had a right to be irritated.

Icarus · « **Reply #5 on:** May 24, 2005, 12:08:33 AM »

I had no idea "career" was a verb.

Now, "car rear," on the other hand . . . (As in "I car reared that minivan when I was trying to parallel park.")