From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishswaysway1 /sweɪ/ ●●○ verb 1 [intransitive]MOVE/CHANGE POSITIONSIDE to move slowly from one side to another The trees swayed gently in the breeze.► see thesaurus at move2 [transitive]EFFECT/INFLUENCE to influence someone so that they change their opinion Don’t allow yourself to be swayed by his promises.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
sway• A light wind was making the branches sway.• The ski lifts were swaying alarmingly from side to side.• Insecure people are often easily swayed by flattery.• The judge was not swayed by her apology.• We should never allow ourselves to be swayed by our feelings.• The court is unlikely to be swayed by those arguments.• We could do pullups on the steady, immobile high bar instead of on our clanking, swaying ceiling pipes.• Donny swayed drunkenly as he walked back to his car.• Without influence in Delhi or among the Tamils she was powerless to sway events.• On the way I noticed that the pavement swayed from side to side and the road heaved up and down.• The boat swayed from side to side in the storm.• Mel swayed her hips in time with the music.• Ed's parents never tried to sway him, but they are happy with the decision he's made.• They groped their way to a plastic table and sat facing the swaying shadows at the bar.• Before long I had rejoined the tribe, swaying shoulder to shoulder with them as I thumped on a cast-iron pan.• But, again, he failed to sway the jury, which returned a first-degree murder verdict.swaysway2 noun [uncountable] 1 literaryCONTROL power to rule or influence people These old attitudes still hold sway in the church.under somebody’s sway She was now completely under his sway.2 SIDEa swinging movement from side to side the sway of the shipExamples from the Corpus
sway• the constant sway of the small aircraft• The same attitudes held sway in Vienna.• Nineteenth-century forms and styles held sway until the 1920s when they were replaced by their horrendous antithesis - Functionalism.• Nearly 10 years later, she still holds sway on Wall Street.• No one has more sway with Congress than the media.• The line weaves back and forth in the water, in sinister sway.• That boy had held such sway.• The sway of the crowd sent him sprawling.hold sway• This of course benefits the income of the less expensive factor of production, as is inevitable when capital holds sway.• Suddenly new possibilities are springing to life where previously deadlock and despair held sway.• That is why we feel justified in saying that Realism has held sway for the last forty years.• His reputedly Herculean virility long remained a byword throughout the district over which he held sway.• That romantic notion held sway over me, and probably delayed my perception of Clarisa as some one with a medical problem.• Nearly 10 years later, she still holds sway on Wall Street.• It's a place for Comici's drop-of-water philosophy to hold sway.• The Marsh End at that time had at least two moles who held sway in their different ways over moles of their generation.Origin sway1 (1200-1300) Probably from a Scandinavian language 