How to Use sideswipe in a Sentence

sideswipe

1 of 2 verb
  • The taxi sideswiped a parked car.
  • His car sideswiped a wooden bridge.
    — Dave Duffey, Outdoor Life, 26 Mar. 2026
  • At times, fill-in left tackle Justin Skule was sideswiped.
    — Jenna West, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2025
  • All of them involved a car sideswiping the back of a tractor-trailer that was making a lane change.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
  • The impact caused the suspect to lose control, sideswipe a tree and go flying off the scooter.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Duprey, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, lost control, sideswiped a tree and was thrown off the scooter, officials said.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 6 Feb. 2026
  • After sideswiping a tractor-trailer, Garrison would pull over while the spotter sped ahead to flag down the truck’s driver.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
  • Police said the motorcycle officer also tried to stop the Buick, but the driver did not yield and sideswiped another car.
    — Jason Green, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The driver of an SUV failed to move over and sideswiped the IDOT truck, state police said.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Security video from a corner store shows a driver lose control Saturday afternoon and sideswipe a parked car.
    — Ryan Hughes, CBS News, 7 June 2026
  • While doing so, the driver sideswiped another vehicle, which was headed west on Belmont Avenue.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 13 Apr. 2026
  • That’s when the 35-year-old was sideswiped by a driver, according to news outlet ClickOrlando.
    — Owen Clarke, Outside, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Detroit police said a man in his 20s sideswiped an oncoming vehicle on Puritan and then lost control, crashing into the home.
    — Gino Vicci, CBS News, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Miles, who also has a Glenwood address, ran away after his vehicle sideswiped an individual attempting to start a car, police said.
    — Dennis Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 27 May 2026
  • Ramirez-Mesa barrelled through the intersection, sideswiping the 4Runner before crashing into the driver’s side of the Sonata, deputies say.
    — Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Authorities allege Brumley was behind the wheel of a southbound Mitsubishi sedan that sideswiped a northbound sports utility vehicle.
    — David Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Apr. 2026
  • State police said a Wayne County plow truck was salting the left lane of the highway when the driver of a 2004 Toyota passenger car sideswiped the salt truck.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 17 Mar. 2026
  • While Zane was driving on I-95 south, another driver sideswiped his car at a high rate of speed without applying the brakes, according to the family, citing an eyewitness.
    — Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Authorities say a semi truck driver in southern Minnesota sideswiped another vehicle Tuesday morning, causing a collision with a third car and killing one of the drivers.
    — Anthony Bettin, CBS News, 17 June 2026
  • The guy whose first season was sideswiped by an injury to his starting quarterback – who now looks like a legit SEC starter – instead of the guy who chose poorly when throwing money at a transfer portal quarterback.
    — Matt Hayes, USA TODAY, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The removal of Hill isn’t justification for a do-over, or a reason for this season being sideswiped because Hill was on the field when these Dolphins dug themselves an 0-3 hole to start the season.
    — Omar Kelly october 3, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2025
  • The driver sideswiped one vehicle near Exit 33, then continued and caused a three-vehicle crash at milepost 32 beneath the Middleton Road overpass, the post states.
    — Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 7 Feb. 2026
  • Jamaica was still recovering from Hurricane Beryl, which sideswiped the island in July 2024 as a Category 4 storm.
    — Farah Nibbs, The Conversation, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Williams was found dead behind the wheel of his gray Chevrolet Equinox after sideswiping three vehicles before coming to a stop outside the Coney Island Houses, about a block from where the shooting was reported.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 11 Mar. 2026
  • The Mazda6 driver exited onto Ohio 747 where the vehicle sideswiped a silver SUV before driving northbound.
    — Gillian Stawiszynski, Cincinnati Enquirer, 23 Mar. 2026
  • But Parente says Martinez, who was shot five times after the crash, did not cause the wreck, arguing the agent was the person who actually initiated the contact by sideswiping his client, making the condition of his vehicle crucial to her defense.
    — Andi Babineau, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2025
  • The California Highway Patrol said the driver of a southbound Mitsubishi sedan sideswiped a northbound sport utility vehicle, then crashed into a Toyota sedan behind the SUV.
    — David Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Police canvassing the area found the victim behind the wheel of a gray Chevrolet Equinox with a Florida license plate that sideswiped three vehciles before coming to a stop outside the Coney Island Houses, about a block from where the shooting was reported.
    — Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 10 Mar. 2026
  • The Honda first sideswiped a white Chevrolet Silverado traveling westbound before colliding head-on with a black Toyota Camry, also heading west, CHP officials said.
    — Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Jan. 2026
  • During a chase that began in Colerain Township and lasted 1½ minutes, prosecutors say James’ car sideswiped a vehicle and then drove through a red light at Kemper and Pippin roads at about 90 mph, striking a Ford Fusion driven by Mills.
    — Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer, 5 Nov. 2025

sideswipe

2 of 2 noun
  • She took a sideswipe at the senator's voting record.
  • What could have been an injurious collision was thankfully more of a sideswipe.
    — Kristi Scales, Dallas News, 9 Dec. 2020
  • Troopers suspect the vehicle should be missing a hubcap on one of the tires and have damage to the front right and possibly right sideswipe damage.
    — Amanda Rabines, Orlando Sentinel, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Nursick noted that narrowing travel lanes can increase the potential for head-on and crossover or sideswipe crashes.
    — Peter Marteka, Courant Community, 2 May 2018
  • The Ginni Thomas leaks are a political sideswipe that will make its conclusions harder to credit.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Lane-keeping systems lowered rates of single-vehicle, sideswipe and head-on crashes, in which there were injuries, by 21 percent.
    — Joan Lowy, The Seattle Times, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Electrons in the magnetic field sideswipe oxygen atoms or nitrogen molecules in the Earth's atmosphere.
    — Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • Many of the accidents were attributed to rear-end collisions caused by vehicles stopping in a travel lane and sideswipe accidents caused by vehicles changing lanes, the city said in a news release.
    — Robin Goist, cleveland, 3 Dec. 2019
  • Instead, their most recent live pricing model took a sideswipe at standard capitalism by giving customers the chance to buy their most popular items at the wholesale price, simply by buying the product first.
    — Lynette Nylander, Essence, 24 Oct. 2023
  • In 2004, there were sixty-nine sideswipe accidents in New Orleans in which a passenger vehicle collided with a large truck.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
  • The forecast track for Maria hasn’t changed much today, with the storm still expected to remain off shore but sideswipe coastal locations with tropical storm conditions beginning on Tuesday.
    — Greg Porter, Washington Post, 24 Sep. 2017
  • Cars with lane-departure warning systems had 11 percent fewer single-vehicle, sideswipe, and head-on crashes than those without the technology, for example.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 10 Nov. 2019
  • Lane-keeping systems lowered rates of single-vehicle, sideswipe and head-on crashes of all severities by 11 percent, and crashes of those types in which there were injuries, by 21 percent, the study found.
    — Joan Lowy, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Aug. 2017
  • Advertisement In addition to being a traffic chokepoint, officials say nearly 80 percent of crashes in the intersection are sideswipes or rear-end collisions, which can indicate confusion among drivers.
    — Heidi Pérez-Moreno, Washington Post, 19 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sideswipe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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