- a sudden, unsteady movement that moves you forward or to the side and nearly makes you lose your balance
- The train gave a violent lurch.
- His heart gave a lurch when he saw her.
- The car started with a lurch.
Extra Examples- John felt a lurch of fear in his stomach.
- She made a sudden lurch towards him.
- The reason for the plane's sudden lurch to the ground is unknown.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- sickening
- sudden
- violent
- …
- give
- feel
- with a lurch
- lurch into
Word Originnoun late 17th cent. (as a noun denoting the sudden leaning of a ship to one side): of unknown origin. leave somebody in the lurch. mid 16th cent. (denoting a state of discomfiture): from French lourche, the name of a game resembling backgammon, used in the phrase demeurer lourche ‘be discomfited’.Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
Idioms
See lurch in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryleave somebody in the lurch
- (informal) to fail to help somebody when they are relying on you to do so
- I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch but I can’t do the presentation with you this afternoon.
- She felt she had been left in the lurch by all her colleagues.
Check pronunciation:
lurch