Maneuvering

How to spell maneuvering

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce maneuvering

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does maneuvering mean?

1. verbMoving something skilfully and deliberately into position, or scheming cleverly to gain an advantage.

Maneuvering in a sentence

• The driver kept maneuvering the trailer until it slid neatly into the loading bay.

• Weeks of quiet maneuvering behind closed doors secured her the promotion.

Where does maneuvering come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends from the French manoeuvre, which itself grew out of the Medieval Latin manuopera, a compound of manus meaning 'hand' and opera meaning 'work'; the literal idea was 'working by hand' or 'handiwork'. In medieval times the phrase manu operare described the manual labour of cultivating land, and it later broadened to mean any deft, deliberate movement or piece of strategy. English first borrowed it as a military term in the 1700s for the controlled movement of troops and ships, and the everyday sense of 'cleverly arranging things to your advantage' followed soon after. The American spelling 'maneuver' streamlined the French 'oeu' cluster into 'eu', and 'maneuvering' is the present-participle form of that verb. The same manus 'hand' root sits behind familiar relatives such as 'manual', 'manage', and 'manufacture', and remembering 'work done by hand' is a useful anchor for an otherwise slippery spelling.

How the word is built

• man- (from Latin manus: hand)
• -euver- (from Latin opera: work)
• -ing (present participle/gerund)

British and American spelling

Maneuvering is the American spelling. British English spells it manoeuvring.