drifting

noun

drift·​ing ˈdrif-tiŋ 

: the act or activity of steering an automobile so that it makes a controlled skid sideways through a turn with the front wheels pointed in a direction opposite to that of the turn

Drifting began in the early 1980s with a Japanese race-car driver named Keiichi Tsuchiya. Mr. Tsuchiya, who was in his 20s, started experimenting with drifting and practiced it on curvy roads deep in the mountains near his hometown. He says he was perfecting his ability to not spin out on curves in car races.

—Norihiko Shirouzu et al.

also : a sport in which drivers compete at this activity

Drifting has nothing to do with racing. There's no checkered flag. It's more like figure skating than speed skating, with a three-judge panel awarding points based on speed, angle of attack and style. They take points away for going off course, stalling or running into course markers—including walls. And for driving straight: The goal is to control the car as it slides sideways around turns, as if on ice, at full throttle.

—W. J. Hennigan

Examples of drifting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Arlo’s drifting in and out of whatever weird thing is possessing him, and there’s some banter between siblings that prompts Valeria to mention the hiding-in-the-oven story James just told her. —James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2024

But for reasons not entirely clear, the floatation device was later found intact drifting in the ocean, the Navy found. —Anne Flaherty, ABC News, 10 Oct. 2024

Model, muse and artist In 1927, magazine magnate Condé Montrose Nast pulled a drifting, 19-year-old girl from Poughkeepsie, New York, out of incoming Manhattan traffic and into the world of high fashion and modeling. —Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Sep. 2024

Kennedy was getting a fresh shave, tufts of udder-fuzz drifting to the floor, revealing her resplendent venation. —Eric Boodman, STAT, 16 July 2024

Engineered to combine tail-happy drifting with advanced driver assistance features and 265 miles of range on a charge, the Mach-E Rally offers a lot for just under $60,000. —Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, 30 May 2024

Across the United States, schools that specialize in performance driving offer courses that include instruction in open-wheel race cars, rally competition, winter drifting, evasive driving maneuvers, and even four-wheel-drive rock crawling. —Michael Van Runkle, Robb Report, 3 Apr. 2024

The sheer disorientation is perhaps an achievement in itself, but my continual drifting (sorry) from the imagery didn’t help to unlock any special insight. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 9 Feb. 2024

The movement appears to be a natural occurrence, and researchers haven’t found a specific inciting event that started the drifting. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1998, in the meaning defined above