Manoeuvre
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Commonwealth standard spelling of maneuver.
"The system also reacts to unexpected traffic situations and handles them independently by employing evasive manoeuvres within the lane or by braking manoeuvres"
- 2 an action aimed at evading an opponent wordnet
- 3 a move made to gain a tactical end wordnet
- 4 a deliberate coordinated movement requiring dexterity and skill wordnet
- 5 a military training exercise wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 a plan for attaining a particular goal wordnet
- 1 Commonwealth standard spelling of maneuver.
"Three pairs of double doors are provided on each side, wide enough to take pallet trucks, and strengthened floors to allow the trucks to manoeuvre inside the vehicle."
- 2 perform a movement in military or naval tactics in order to secure an advantage in attack or defense wordnet
- 3 direct the course; determine the direction of travelling wordnet
- 4 act in order to achieve a certain goal wordnet
Example
More examples"Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and manoeuvre."
Etymology
From Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, manoeuvre”) and manouvrer (“to manoeuvre”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labour”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handwerc (“hand-work”). Compare Old English handweorc, Old English handġeweorc, German Handwerk.
Related phrases
More for "manoeuvre"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.