Maneuver

How to spell maneuver

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce maneuver

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does maneuver mean?

1. nounA planned or skillful movement, often requiring care, control, or cunning.
2. verbTo move or guide something with skill and care, or to scheme to gain an advantage.

Maneuver in a sentence

• noun

  A clever maneuver won the game.

• verb

  The driver had to maneuver the truck through the narrow gate.

• noun

  Parking in this space requires a tricky maneuver.

• verb

  She tried to maneuver herself into a better position at work.

• noun

  The pilot performed a daring maneuver.

• verb

  The crew worked hard to maneuver the boat into the dock.

Where does maneuver come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes from the Latin phrase manu operari, meaning 'to work by hand', built from manus 'hand' and operari 'to work'. This was compressed into the Medieval Latin manuoperare, which described skilled hand labour and, later, deliberate physical action. French inherited it as manoeuvre, referring to a planned series of movements, especially by troops or ships, and English borrowed that French form in the 1700s. American English later trimmed the French oe to a plain eu, giving the modern 'maneuver', which is exactly why the spelling drops the o that British 'manoeuvre' keeps. A close relative built on the same Latin roots is 'manure', which originally meant simply to work the land by hand before it narrowed to fertiliser.

How the word is built

• man- (from manus: hand)
• -euver (from operari: to work) = literally 'to work by hand'

British and American spelling

Maneuver is the American spelling. British English spells it manoeuvre.