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PlainSpell

tailspin

noun, verb

tailspin is a noun meaning “The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled T-A-I-L-S-P-I-N and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of tailspin is tailspins.

What does tailspin mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral.

    The loss of the third engine threw the plane into a tailspin.

  2. 2

    A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown.

    Just hours after leaving the institution, she suffered another tailspin.

  3. 3

    Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.

    The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.

verb

  1. 1

    Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid, uncontrollable descent in a steep spiral.

  2. 2

    To go into a sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce tailspin?

    Tailspin has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

    Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

    Forms of tailspin

    • tailspins plural, present, singular, he/she/it
    • tailspinning participle, present
    • tailspun participle, past
    • tailspinned participle, past

    Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

    How common is tailspin?

    Tailspin appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form in the list.

    Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

    Tailspin in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

    LanguageWords
    Frenchvrille (The rapid, uncontrollable descent of an…), chute libre (Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable…), tomber en vrille (Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid…)
    Spanishentrar en barrena (Of an aircraft: to go into a rapid…), tomber en chute libre (To go into a sharp, sustained, often…)

    Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

    Where does tailspin come from?

    From tail + spin.

    Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).