These verbs mean to turn from a vertical or horizontal position. To tip or tilt something is to incline it at an angle, lowering or raising one side or end. Tip suggests a slight, momentary or accidental movement away from a balanced position. It is often applied to something turned downwards, thrown out of balance or turned over.

• She tipped the jug to pour out the milk; He suddenly stood up and tipped the boat; The vase tipped over.

Tilt suggests a more decided or more stable alteration of balance – a marked, permanent or deliberate positioning at an angle: When the restaurant was closed, the chairs were titled forwards against the tables. Like some of the other words in this group, tilt can function as a noun: one wall of the gutted building had taken on a dangerous tilt .

Slant and slope may refer to stationary things, and both stress line rather than movement. Slant is the more general word. It simply indicates an oblique placement or position. Slope involves a change of level or direction and is most often applied to the lay of land: a slanted line; a sloping lawn. A roof or hillside may either slant or slope ; but slope suggests the gentler, more gradual downward inclination – except when qualified to the contrary: The ground slopes sharply here. Slope is limited in application, but slant may be used in a figurative sense, suggesting a bias towards a particular point of view: news so slanted you might call it propaganda.

To cant something is to set it at a slant. Cant is close to tilt but is more formal and may imply a greater degree of permanence. A draughtsman cants his drawing board by setting one side higher than the other. To cant a timber is to bevel a corner or an edge of it so as to form a slightly slanted end: to cant off the end of a plank. In nautical usage, a ship that cants swings round, taking a position oblique to some definite line or course. In another sense, to cant is to pitch towards one side, and to cant over is to turn over in this way: a schooner canted by the wind; The boat canted over.

Careen , heel and list are all nautical terms applied to vessels that lean sharply to one side. A ship, especially one under sail, careens , or heels over, from being buffeted by wind or waves. A ship lists when its centre of gravity is displaced, throwing it out of balance: The freighter listed 10 to starboard. Careening or heeling is always towards one side or the other, but listing may be forward or astern as well. Careen may apply also to a stationary ship in port, turned over on one side: The careened the ship to clean the bottom. In general use, careen is applied to moving objects, such as vehicles, and means to lurch or twist from side to side as if out of control: The driverless car careened down the embankment.