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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CAREEN

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pronounce CAREEN:

kuh REEN
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connect this word to others:

Although we talk about all kinds of vehicles that careen, or move along unsteadily at a dangerous pace, originally it was only ships.

The word careen traces back through French and Italian to the Latin carina, meaning "the keel of a ship," and first meant "to expose the keel of a ship." As fun as it would be to imagine that the first careening ships were moving so recklessly that they tilted practically ninety degrees over to show their keels (Yeah!), the original sense here is just turning the ship on its side so it can be cleaned (boo).

While we're talking about keels, see if you can explain what it means to keelhaul someone, either literally or figuratively.

definition:

In English, to careen a ship first meant to tilt it over so you could clean or repair the hull.

From there the meaning loosened up: a ship that careened was tilted, pushed far to one side by powerful wind or water. This kind of careening typically took place while the ship moved along at a strong speed.

The meaning loosened up even further, and now, we talk about all kinds of vehicles, objects, people, and even abstract concepts that careen, meaning they travel very quickly and dangerously, moving side to side, as if out of control.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the intransitive kind: "The car careened out of control;" "We careened down a hill;" "She careened toward superstardom."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "careened" and "careening."

how to use it:

"Careen" is a semi-common word with a tone that's exciting, even cartoonish.

Pick it when you want to make your idea sound wild and action-packed.

Talk about things and people that careen downhill, careen from side to side, careen into or out of something, or careen toward or away from something.

If you like to get figurative, you might talk about people careening into bad choices or bad relationships, or about stories careening into weird side plots or bizarre endings, or about prices or bank account balances careening up and down.

examples:

"When I came out of the subway, Lenox Avenue seemed to careen away from me at a drunken angle, and I focused upon the teetering scene with wild, infant's eyes, my head throbbing."
  — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, 1952

"If they're released during a nuclear accident, the same neutrons that ping around inside the nuclear reactor breaking apart uranium atoms can careen through a worker's body." 
  — Deirdre Langeland, Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima, 2021

has this page helped you understand "careen"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.




study it:

Explain the meaning of "careen" without saying "move fast and out of control" or "drive like Cruella De Vil."

try it out:

In an essay titled "Let Them Sled," while arguing that kids should be allowed to sled, Melinda Wenner Moyer conceded:

"There's no question that sledding can be dangerous. Kids—not known for their stellar judgment—are given carte blanche to fly down steep icy hills on flimsy contraptions they can't steer or stop. They careen at more than 20 miles per hour—as fast as cars—yet they don't have the protection of thick metal frames, or air bags, or seat belts."

What do you think? Should kids be banned from recklessly careening down snowy hills? Why or why not?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fragments.

In each issue, check out an excerpt from a master of American prose, one in which I've changed the lovely sentence fragments into ugly but grammatically correct sentences. Try restoring the excerpt to its original glory by chiseling those sentences down into fragments.

You can check out some examples here.

Try this one today. It's from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter:

“Hush, Hester—hush!” said he, with tremulous solemnity. “The law we broke!—the sin here awfully revealed!—let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. He proved it by giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! He also proved it by sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat! Finally, he also proved it by bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever! Praised be His name! His will be done! Farewell!”

To see the original version, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. A near opposite of CAREEN is

A. JOUNCE: to move along heavily.
B. BEELINE: to move in a straight line.
C. CAROM: to smack into something, then bounce off.

2. As we've seen, "careen" tends to sound _____, as it does in Katherine Applegate's novel Crenshaw when a character's mind comes to a stop "like _____."

A. cartoonish .. a cartoon character about to careen off a cliff
B. balletic .. a ballerina about to careen a foot above the stage
C. pedantic .. a pedant in a bowtie about to careen into a lecture




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. A

From the game: There are lots of different ways to render each highlighted bit into a fragment! If your version pleases your ears, then you did great.

Here's the original version:

“Hush, Hester—hush!” said he, with tremulous solemnity. “The law we broke!—the sin here awfully revealed!—let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! By sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat! By bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever! Praised be His name! His will be done! Farewell!”


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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