Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense derails, present participle derailing, past tense, past participle derailed
1. verb
To derail something such as a plan or a series of negotiations means to prevent it from continuing as planned.
[journalism]
The present wave of political killings is the work of people trying to derail peacetalks. [VERB noun]
...a fear that any reform could be derailed by hard-line Communists. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: prevent, stop, block, check More Synonyms of derail
2. verb
If a train is derailed or if it derails, it comes off the track on which it is running.
Several people were injured today when a train was derailed. [beVERB-ed]
No-one knows why the train derailed. [VERB]
[Also VERB noun]
derail in British English
(dɪˈreɪl)
verb
1.
to go or cause to go off the rails, as a train, tram, etc
noun
2. Also called: derailer mainly US
a device designed to make rolling stock or locomotives leave the rails to avoid a collision or accident
Derived forms
derailment (deˈrailment)
noun
derail in American English
(diˈreɪl)
verb transitive
1.
to cause (a train, etc.) to go off the rails
verb intransitive
2.
to go off the rails
Derived forms
derailment (deˈrailment)
noun
Word origin
Fr dérailler < dé-, from (see de-) + rail < OFr reille: see rail1
Examples of 'derail' in a sentence
derail
Don't derail the gravy train.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
One woman and six men died when the tram derailed after the driver took a sharp bend at more than the maximum 12mph.
The Sun (2016)
At least 120 people have been killed and scores injured when a passenger train derailed in northern India.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A train was derailed and a hospital was flooded as torrential rain caused chaos across the south and east of England.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
With better ways to improve care and save money, many health bosses must be wondering whether closures that could derail their wider plans are worth the bother.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
That would derail recovery throughout the advanced industrial economies.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Passengers were forced to get off the tram after it derailed.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They blew up the line and derailed a freight train as well.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Two court rulings in the past month have derailed the plan to complete the merger this year.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
These attacks should not derail that process.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Oil prices have the potential to derail the global recovery.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
But a liking for the celebrity lifestyle plus injuries derailed his rugby career.
The Sun (2015)
Not long ago a train derailed in our town.
Christianity Today (2000)
It would simply derail the whole process.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Any sign of disappointment could also derail its recovery.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Another whose career has been derailed by a serious injury.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
He called the police but by then the train had been derailed and crashed.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But should this concern derail the whole process?
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
But the train was not derailed and no one else was injured.
The Sun (2006)
There is still a risk that dwindling household spending power and gloomy consumer sentiment will derail this recovery.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
We should know soon if this accidental alliance can derail a deal but in the short term it seems unlikely.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But will that derail the deal?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
We're not going to let one poor performance derail our plans.
The Sun (2012)
Unions had tried to derail the deal in the French courts.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Serious conflict would derail American plans to withdraw its troops from the country.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He then tried to derail the Chinese deal by offering to buy out other shareholders.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The project was almost derailed at the last minute by the eurozone crisis, which resulted in higher borrowing costs.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But their plans get derailed.
The Sun (2014)
In other languages
derail
British English: derail VERB
To derail something such as a plan or a series of negotiations means to prevent it from continuing as planned.
...an explosive issue that has derailed peace talks in the past.