# maneuver

> English word · Noun · IPA /məˈnuvɚ/ · frequency rank #14,363

## Definitions
1. The planned movement of troops, vehicles etc.; a strategic repositioning; (later also) a large training field-exercise of fighting units.
2. Any strategic or cunning action; a stratagem.
3. A movement of the body, or with an implement, instrument etc., especially one performed with skill or dexterity.
4. A specific medical or surgical movement, often eponymous, done with the doctor's hands or surgical instruments.
5. A controlled (especially skillful) movement taken while steering a vehicle.

## Etymology
From Middle French manœuvre (“manipulation, maneuver”) and manouvrer (“to maneuver”), from Old French manovre (“handwork, manual labor”), from Medieval Latin manopera, manuopera (“work done by hand, handwork”), from manu (“by hand”) + operari (“to work”). First recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne (800 AD) to mean "chore, manual task", probably as a calque of the Frankish *handuwerk (“hand-work”). Compare Old English handweorc, Old English handġeweorc, German Handwerk. The verb is a doublet of the verb manure.

## Easily confused with
- **makeover** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/makeover-vs-maneuver)

## Common misspellings (11)
`amneuver`, `maenuver`, `maneuevr`, `maneuverr`, `maneuvre`, `maneuvver`, `manevuer`, `manneuver`, `manuever`, `mmaneuver`, `mnaeuver`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/maneuver