Word.ws English Dictionary

taking the wind out of someone's sails

taking the wind out of someone's sails is the present participle and gerund of take the wind out of someone's sails.

Meaning of take the wind out of someone's sails

Verb

take the wind out of someone's sails (third-person singular simple present takes the wind out of someone's sails, present participle taking the wind out of someone's sails, simple past took the wind out of someone's sails, past participle taken the wind out of someone's sails)

  1. (idiomatic) To discourage someone greatly; to cause someone to lose hope or the will to continue; to thwart or minimize someone's ambitions.
    • "I tell you Van Bahr Lamb is a fool." […]
      But Polly […] completely took the wind out of her sails, by coolly remarking,— "I like fools."c. 1860, Louisa May Alcott, Aunt Kipp

Questions about taking the wind out of someone's sails

What is taking the wind out of someone's sails the present participle and gerund of?
Taking the wind out of someone's sails is the present participle and gerund of take the wind out of someone's sails.

Words near taking the wind out of someone's sails in the dictionary

  1. taking the trouble
  2. taking the veil
  3. taking the weight off
  4. taking the weight off one's feet
  5. taking the wheel
  6. taking the wind out of someone's sails
  7. taking the words out of someone's mouth
  8. taking the wrong turn at Albuquerque
  9. taking time
  10. taking time by the forelock
  11. taking time off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking the wind out of someone's sails (page history and authors); take the wind out of someone's sails (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:

Cite this entry: “taking the wind out of someone's sails.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taking_the_wind_out_of_someone%27s_sails. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.