headwind

/ˈhɛdˌwɪnd/

headwind noun: a wind that blows directly against the course of a vehicle, like an aircraft, train, or ship.

Noun

headwind (plural headwinds)

A wind that blows directly against the course of a vehicle, like an aircraft, train, or ship.
(transferred sense) A strong force that impedes or reverses progress.
- "Domestic economic activity has been gaining traction in spite of formidable headwinds from external developments," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin.2022 June 16, Swati Bhat, “India's economic prospects firm despite global headwinds, says RBI”, in Gareth Jones, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022, Macro Matters
- At the same time, Faludi, who is working on a new book about the headwinds feminism is facing, suggested that the movement itself has grown sectarian and insular.2022 June 17, Michelle Goldberg, “The Future Isn’t Female Anymore”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 Jul 2022

headwind (third-person singular simple present headwinds, present participle headwinding, simple past and past participle headwinded)

(transitive, uncommon) To blow directly against the course of a vehicle, like an aircraft, train, or ship.
(idiomatic, uncommon) To impede or reverse progress.

باد مخالف, مخالفت, مزاحمت

wind that blows directly against the course of a vessel: ఎదురుగాలి edurugāli

wind that blows directly against the course of a vessel: كَوْس kaws, رِيَاح مُضَادَّة riyāḥ muḍādda, رِيَاح عَكْسِيَّة riyāḥ ʕaksiyya

The plane bucked a strong headwind.
One point to keep in mind is never to underpull in a headwind.
Those bureaucrats tended to mispeg Belanger as a flaming radical with a penchant for spitting into a headwind .

Noun
plural	headwinds
Verb
third-person singular present	headwinds
present participle	headwinding
past participle	headwinded
past	headwinded

From Middle English *hedwind, from Old English hēafodwind, equivalent to head + wind. Cognate with Old Norse höfuðvindr.

What does headwind mean?: Headwind means a wind that blows directly against the course of a vehicle, like an aircraft, train, or ship.
What is headwind in Urdu?: Headwind in Urdu is باد مخالف, مخالفت, مزاحمت. See Headwind meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is headwind?: Headwind can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce headwind?: Headwind is pronounced /ˈhɛdˌwɪnd/.
What is the plural of headwind?: The plural of headwind is headwinds.

Adapted from Wiktionary: headwind (page history and authors); headwind (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-headwind.wav.

Cite this entry: “headwind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/headwind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.