tailspin

Plural: tailspins

Noun

• A rapid, uncontrolled, spiral descent of an aircraft.
• loss of emotional control often resulting in emotional collapse
• rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral
• The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral.
• A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown.
• Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.

Verb

• Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral.
• To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.

Examples

• After that blunder, his Words With Friends game went into a complete TAILSPIN.
• Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.
• The loss of the third engine threw the plane into a tailspin.
• The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.

Synonyms

spin

Related Words

downward spiral, nosedive