derail

(noun, verb)

noun

1. A device placed on railway tracks causing a train to derail.

- The derail was placed deliberately so that the train would fall into the river.

verb

1. cause to run off the tracks

- they had planned to derail the trains that carried atomic waste

Definition categories: motion, counteract, countermine, sabotage, subvert, undermine, weaken

2. run off or leave the rails

- the train derailed because a cow was standing on the tracks

Similar word(s): jump

Definition categories: motion, go, locomote, move, travel

Sentences with derail as a verb:

- The train was destroyed when it was derailed by the penny.

- The conversation derailed once James brought up politics.

- The protesting students derailed the professor's lecture.