straw in the wind
"straw-in-the-wind" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“straw in the wind” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A premonitory sign.
Corpus desk
Index EN-straw-in-the-wind · straw in the wind · English
straw in the wind · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | straw in the wind |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “straw in the wind” in English
Rare enough to double-check
straw in the wind is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A premonitory sign.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for straw in the wind, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is straw in the wind, spelled S-T-R-A-W- -I-N- -T-H-E- -W-I-N-D.
Definition
- 1A premonitory sign.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how straw in the wind appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There were little hints then that I did not take, little straws in the wind that I did not see, little incidents the gravity of which I did not realize.
[…] and the decision of the United States Supreme Court virtually commanding the Florida Supreme Court to reverse its ruling banning Negroes from playing on a city-owned golf course in Miami are straws in the wind showing that segregation is becoming more and more unworkable.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.