tailspin
noun /ˈteɪlˌspɪn/Definition
› [C usually singular] a situation in which a plane turns round and round as it falls quickly towards the groundRevolving, rotating and spinningAviationTravelling by aircraftMovement through the air › [S] a situation in which something starts to fail or lose value and gets more and more out of control: Share prices went into a tailspin when the president resigned.FailuresAccidents and disastersHigher and lower points of achievement
(Definition of tailspin noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Revolving, rotating and spinning, but you might be interested in these topics from the Movement and location topic area:
- Advancing and moving forward
- Arrivals and departures
- Arriving, entering and invading
- Backwards, sideways and back and forth
- Bending, twisting and curving
- Boarding and alighting from modes of transport
- Bouncing
- Changing direction
- Crossing and moving through
- Delivering and despatching
- Departing
- Describing movement towards
- Digging
- Direction of motion
- Down and downward
- Emitting and ejecting
- Evicting and forcing to leave
- Falling and dropping
- Fast and rapid
- General words for movement
- Immobility
- Increasing and decreasing speed of motion
- Inserting and forcing things into other things
- Jumping
- Making short, sudden movements
- Messengers and people who deliver things
- Movement
- Movement of liquids
- Movement on or through water
- Movement through the air
- Moving a long way on foot
- Moving downwards
- Moving firmly on foot
- Moving gently on foot
- Moving in order to avoid contact
- Moving on your hands and legs or on your stomach
- Moving quickly
- Moving to avoid being seen
- Moving unsteadily or with difficulty
- Moving upwards
- Not holding the body upright
- Phrases telling people to go away
- Physical gestures of respect
- Places and locations
- Placing and positioning an object
- Pleasant and make-believe places
- Posture
- Pulling
- Pursuing
- Pushing and shoving
- Raising and lowering
- Reclining
- Removing and extracting
- Returning to a place
- Runaways and refugees
- Running away and escaping
- Shaking, swinging and vibrating
- Sitting and standing
- Slow and moving slowly
- Speed of motion
- Staying and remaining
- Stretching the body
- Taking someone somewhere or telling them the way
- Throwing
- Transferring and transporting objects
- Turning upside down
- Unpleasant places
- Up and upward
- Visiting
- Walking and walkers
Browse the Thesaurus
SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- centrifugal adjective
- centripetal adjective
- circle verb
- go round phrasal verb (SPIN)
- gyrate verb
- in rotation idiom
- rev noun
- revolution noun (CIRCULAR MOVEMENT)
- roll noun (MOVEMENT)
- roll verb (MOVE)
- rpm
- span verb (SPIN)
- swing (sth/sb) round phrasal verb
- swirl verb
- swivel adjective
- swivel verb
- topspin noun
- twiddle noun
- twiddle verb
- whirl verb
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Word of the Day
gesticulate
to make movements with your hands or arms, to express something or to emphasize what you are saying
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
