"tailspin" meaning in English

See tailspin in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: tailspins [plural]
Etymology: tail + spin Etymology templates: {{compound|en|tail|spin}} tail + spin Head templates: {{en-noun}} tailspin (plural tailspins)
  1. (aviation) The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral. Categories (topical): Aviation Translations (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral): vrille [feminine] (French), 錐揉み (kirimomi) (alt: きりもみ) (Japanese), korkociąg (note: not necessarily uncontrolable) [masculine] (Polish), што́пор (štópor) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-tailspin-en-noun-VLBar-h~ Topics: aeronautics, aerospace, aviation, business, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences Disambiguation of 'The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral': 91 1 8
  2. (figuratively) A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown. Tags: figuratively Translations (A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown): romahdus (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-tailspin-en-noun-BIH-G6UM Disambiguation of 'A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown': 3 96 2
  3. (figuratively) Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline. Tags: figuratively Translations (Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline): romahdus (Finnish), chute libre [feminine] (French)
    Sense id: en-tailspin-en-noun-BD-mpGGf Disambiguation of 'Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline': 7 2 90

Verb

Forms: tailspins [present, singular, third-person], tailspinning [participle, present], tailspun [participle, past], tailspun [past], tailspinned [participle, past], tailspinned [past]
Etymology: tail + spin Etymology templates: {{compound|en|tail|spin}} tail + spin Head templates: {{en-verb|tailspins|tailspinning|tailspun|past2=tailspinned}} tailspin (third-person singular simple present tailspins, present participle tailspinning, simple past and past participle tailspun or tailspinned)
  1. Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral. Translations (Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral): tomber en vrille (French), entrar en barrena (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-tailspin-en-verb-VKF0TOZM Disambiguation of 'Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral': 66 34
  2. (figurative) To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline. Tags: figuratively Translations (To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline): tomber en chute libre (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-tailspin-en-verb-9LSvjnu2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 9 15 12 48 Disambiguation of 'To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline': 25 75
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: downward spiral, nosedive

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for tailspin meaning in English (6.4kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "tail",
        "3": "spin"
      },
      "expansion": "tail + spin",
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  "etymology_text": "tail + spin",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tailspins",
      "tags": [
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  "senses": [
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        {
          "text": "The loss of the third engine threw the plane into a tailspin.",
          "type": "example"
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      "glosses": [
        "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral."
      ],
      "id": "en-tailspin-en-noun-VLBar-h~",
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        [
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        [
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(aviation) The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral."
      ],
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        "aeronautics",
        "aerospace",
        "aviation",
        "business",
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "91 1 8",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "vrille"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 1 8",
          "alt": "きりもみ",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "kirimomi",
          "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
          "word": "錐揉み"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 1 8",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "note": "not necessarily uncontrolable",
          "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "korkociąg"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 1 8",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "štópor",
          "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "што́пор"
        }
      ]
    },
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        {
          "text": "Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.",
          "type": "example"
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        "A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown."
      ],
      "id": "en-tailspin-en-noun-BIH-G6UM",
      "links": [
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        [
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          "breakdown",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "3 96 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown",
          "word": "romahdus"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Perspectives on climate change, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., page 49",
          "text": "But I was reading a statement that either you made or was part of your movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, and it said we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September, Chris Sommers, \"Merge\", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 77",
          "text": "St. Louis, the fourth-largest U.S. city in 1900, is fading fast […] . Jobs, and airline, an educated population—all gone or in a tailspin."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "id": "en-tailspin-en-noun-BD-mpGGf",
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        [
          "descent",
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        "(figuratively) Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "tags": [
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "7 2 90",
          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
          "word": "romahdus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "7 2 90",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "chute libre"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tailspin"
}

{
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  "etymology_text": "tail + spin",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tailspins",
      "tags": [
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    {
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "downward spiral"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "nosedive"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral."
      ],
      "id": "en-tailspin-en-verb-VKF0TOZM",
      "links": [
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          "steep",
          "steep"
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        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral",
          "word": "tomber en vrille"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "66 34",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral",
          "word": "entrar en barrena"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "17 9 15 12 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "id": "en-tailspin-en-verb-9LSvjnu2",
      "links": [
        [
          "descent",
          "descent"
        ],
        [
          "decline",
          "decline"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "25 75",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
          "word": "tomber en chute libre"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tailspin"
}
{
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  "etymology_text": "tail + spin",
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        "plural"
      ]
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  ],
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      "args": {},
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          "text": "The loss of the third engine threw the plane into a tailspin.",
          "type": "example"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral."
      ],
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        "(aviation) The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral."
      ],
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        "business",
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        "natural-sciences",
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        {
          "text": "Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.",
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      ],
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          "breakdown",
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        "(figuratively) A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "English terms with usage examples"
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        {
          "text": "The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Perspectives on climate change, Washington : U.S. G.P.O., page 49",
          "text": "But I was reading a statement that either you made or was part of your movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, and it said we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September, Chris Sommers, \"Merge\", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 77",
          "text": "St. Louis, the fourth-largest U.S. city in 1900, is fading fast […] . Jobs, and airline, an educated population—all gone or in a tailspin."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "descent",
          "descent"
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        [
          "decline",
          "decline"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "vrille"
    },
    {
      "alt": "きりもみ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "kirimomi",
      "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
      "word": "錐揉み"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "note": "not necessarily uncontrolable",
      "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "korkociąg"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "štópor",
      "sense": "The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "што́пор"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown",
      "word": "romahdus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
      "word": "romahdus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "chute libre"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tailspin"
}

{
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  "etymology_text": "tail + spin",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "tailspins",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "tailspinning",
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        "participle",
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    {
      "form": "tailspun",
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    {
      "form": "tailspun",
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        "past"
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        "past"
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "downward spiral"
    },
    {
      "word": "nosedive"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral."
      ],
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        [
          "rapid",
          "rapid"
        ],
        [
          "uncontrollable",
          "uncontrollable"
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        [
          "descent",
          "descent"
        ],
        [
          "steep",
          "steep"
        ],
        [
          "spiral",
          "spiral"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "descent",
          "descent"
        ],
        [
          "decline",
          "decline"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral",
      "word": "tomber en vrille"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral",
      "word": "entrar en barrena"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline",
      "word": "tomber en chute libre"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tailspin"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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