Zag

//zæɡ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of a series of sharp turns or reversals.
  2. 2
    an angular shape characterized by sharp turns in alternating directions wordnet
  3. 3
    One of a series of sharp turns or reversals.; A twist in a storyline.

    "Afterward, she returns to the Dragon Pit to announce her agreement to the truce. “The darkness is coming for us all. We will face it together. And when the Great War is over, perhaps you will remember that I chose to help, with no promises or assurances from any of you. I expect not.” The self-pity and pettiness is classic Cersei, but what a zag! It was always hard to imagine what this show looks like with all the humans on all sides temporarily working together."

Verb
  1. 1
    To move with a sharp turn or reversal. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
zigzagangleangle offapexbendbifurcate

Example

More examples

"One of the moons, Naiad has a tilted orbital plane and circles Neptune in a zig zag, up and down pattern."

Etymology

Back-formation from zigzag. Compare zig.

Related phrases

zig when one should zag

More for "zag"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.