tailwind

English

Etymology

From tail +‎ wind.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteɪlwɪnd/

Noun

tailwind (plural tailwinds)

1. (nautical, physics) A wind that blows in the same direction as the course taken by an aircraft, sailing ship, bird, etc.; a following wind.

   Synonym: fair wind

2. (figurative, by extension) A force that accelerates progress.

Antonyms

• headwind, foul wind

Translations

a wind that blows in the same direction as the course of an aircraft or ship

Danish: medvind (da) c Faroese: undanvindur m Finnish: myötätuuli (fi) French: vent en poupe (fr) m German: Rückenwind (de) m Hungarian: hátszél (hu) Icelandic: meðvindur m, meðbyr m Ingrian: perintuuli Italian: vento in poppa, vento di poppa m Japanese: 追い風 (ja) (おいかぜ, oikaze) Norwegian: Bokmål: medvind (no) Nynorsk: medvind Polish: wiatr w plecy m Russian: попу́тный ве́тер m (popútnyj véter) Spanish: viento en popa (es) m, viento a favor m, viento favorable m Swedish: medvind (sv) c Turkish: pupa rüzgârı

Verb

tailwind (third-person singular simple present tailwinds, present participle tailwinding, simple past and past participle tailwinded)

1. Of a wind, to blow on a windmill or wind turbine in such a way that wind pressure is exerted on the wrong side of the sail or turbine assembly.