tailspin
tailspin Lexical Profile
tailspin Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A rapid, uncontrolled, and chaotic deterioration or decline, especially in someone's emotional state or in an economic or organizational situation.
"The sudden loss of their largest client sent the fledgling company into a financial tailspin."
A steep, spiraling descent of an aircraft in which the tail makes a wider circle than the nose, caused by an aerodynamic stall.
"The test pilot managed to regain control of the plane and pull out of the tailspin just above the treetops."
• verb
To fall into a rapid, chaotic, and uncontrolled decline or deterioration.
"Currency values began to tailspin after the central bank announced unexpected interest rate cuts."
To descend in a steep, uncontrolled spiral (of an aircraft).
"With one engine disabled by severe icing, the small aircraft began to tailspin toward the frozen lake."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 1910s during World War I aviation from the compound of "tail" and "spin," describing the rotating movement of an airplane's tail during a stalling descent before rapidly gaining figurative usage in the 1920s.