whirlwind
UK/ˈwɜːlwɪnd//ˈ(h)wɝlwɪnd/
whirlwind noun: a windstorm of limited extent, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air.
Noun
whirlwind (plural whirlwinds)
- A windstorm of limited extent, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air.
- VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of...1713, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His...
- And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, / His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, / And turbulence, as if a whirlwind’s gust / Surrounded us; […]1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the...
- A person or body of objects or events sweeping violently onward.
- Once he got that new scooter he turned into a whirlwind and damaged all the flowers.
- The weeks leading up to the convention were a whirlwind of preparation and hurried activity.
Adjective
whirlwind (not comparable)
whirlwind meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
whirlwind in Hindi
- violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air
- बवंडर bavaṇḍar, चक्रवात cakravāt
whirlwind in Tamil
- violent windstorm of limited extent characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air
- சுழல்காற்று cuḻalkāṟṟu, சூறைக்காற்று cūṟaikkāṟṟu, சூறாவளி cūṟāvaḷi
whirlwind in Urdu
- whirlwind
- بونڈر bavanḍar
whirlwind in Bengali
- ঘূর্ণিবাতাস
More languagesFewer languages
- whirlwind in Telugu
- సుడిగాలి suḍigāli
- whirlwind in Malayalam
- ചുഴലിക്കാറ്റ്
- whirlwind in Kannada
- ಸುಂಟರಗಾಳಿ, ಸುಳಿಗಾಳಿ, ಸುಟ್ಟುರೆ, ಸುಂಟರ
- whirlwind in Punjabi
- ਵਾਵਰੋਲਾ vāvrolā
- whirlwind in Gujarati
- વંટોળિયો vaṇṭoḷiyo
- whirlwind in Sanskrit
- वायुमण्डल vāyumaṇḍala
- whirlwind in Tagalog
- buhawi, ipu-ipo
- whirlwind in Arabic
- زَوْبَعَة zawbaʕa
- whirlwind in Persian
- گردباد gerdbâd
- whirlwind in Thai
- ลมวน lom-won, พายุหมุน paa-yú-mǔn, บ้าหมู bâa-mǔu, ลมหัวกุด
- whirlwind in Vietnamese
- gió lốc, lốc
- whirlwind in Myanmar
- လေကတော့ leka.tau., လေပွေ le-pwe, ရေကတော့ reka.tau.
Examples of whirlwind in a sentence
- American shale’s placid responses to energy whirlwinds are becoming an enduring feature of the U.S. oil industry.
- Then a small whirlwind of dust and kvitls swept over him, encircled him, and lifted him away.
- The 11 September attacks uncorked a whirlwind of outlandish conspiracy theories.
Synonyms of whirlwind
Forms of whirlwind
| plural | whirlwinds |
|---|
Origin of whirlwind
From Middle English whirlewind, whirlewynde, equivalent to whirl + wind. Compare Middle Dutch wervelwint, Old Norse hvirfilvindr.
Words formed from whirlwind
Phrases with whirlwind
Questions about whirlwind
- What does whirlwind mean?
- Whirlwind means a windstorm of limited extent, such as a tornado, dust devil, or waterspout, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air.
- What is whirlwind in Hindi?
- Whirlwind in Hindi is बवंडर (bavaṇḍar), चक्रवात (cakravāt). See Whirlwind meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is whirlwind?
- Whirlwind can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce whirlwind?
- Whirlwind is pronounced /ˈwɜːlwɪnd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of whirlwind?
- The plural of whirlwind is whirlwinds.
Words near whirlwind in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whirlwind (page history and authors); بونڈر (Urdu) (page history and authors); whirlwind (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whirlwind (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whirlwind (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); વંટોળિયો (Gujarati) (page history and authors); वायुमण्डल (Sanskrit) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-whirlwind.wav.
Cite this entry: “whirlwind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whirlwind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.