I. ma ‧ noeu ‧ vre 1 BrE AmE British English , maneuver American English /məˈnuːvə $ -ər/ noun
1 . [countable] a skilful or careful movement that you make, for example in order to avoid something or go through a narrow space:
A careful driver will often stop talking before carrying out a complex manoeuvre.
2 . [uncountable and countable] a skilful or carefully planned action intended to gain an advantage for yourself:
They tried by diplomatic maneuvers to obtain an agreement.
3 . manoeuvres [plural] military activities, such as pretending to fight a battle, which are done as practice or training SYN exercises :
Large-scale military manoeuvres are being carried out near the border.
on manoeuvres
troops on night manoeuvres
4 . room for manoeuvre/freedom of manoeuvre the possibility of changing your plans or decisions in order to achieve what you want:
As I see it, Lisa, you don’t really have a great deal of room for manoeuvre.
II. manoeuvre 2 BrE AmE British English , maneuver American English verb
1 . [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition] to move or turn skilfully or to move or turn something skilfully, especially something large and heavy:
She managed to manoeuvre expertly into the parking space.
manoeuvre yourself into/out of something
Josh manoeuvred himself out of bed and hobbled to the door.
We manoeuvred the TV in front of the sofa.
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to use cleverly planned and often dishonest methods to get the result that you want
manoeuvre somebody into/out of something
It was a well-organized plan to maneuver company president John Woolford out of office.
Businesses manoeuvred to have their industry organized to their own advantage.