winding

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

The act of winnowing.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wynding

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwaɪndɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

agriculturechiefly attributive
The act of winnowing ("subjecting food grain to a current of air to separate the grain from the chaff").
music
The act of blowing air through a wind instrument or (chiefly) a horn to make a sound.
Chiefly followed by up: the act of tightening the spring of a clockwork or other mechanism.
The act of twisting something, or coiling or wrapping something around another thing.
Something wound around another thing.
Sometimes followed by up: the act of hoisting something using a winch or a similar device.

adjective

Moving in a sinuous or twisting manner.
Sinuous, turning, or twisting in form.
Chiefly of a staircase: helical, spiral.
figurative
Of speech, writing, etc.: not direct or to the point; rambling, roundabout.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency: Moderately Common
Typical Use: Neutral / general English

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

secondary windingprimary windingfield windingwinding sheetwinding roadwinding patharmature windingwinding course

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

windnounBase word
Air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

windernounPerson or profession
A worker who winds (e.g., a winch or clock or other mechanism).

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

winding-clothesnounCompound term
Burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped.
winding-sheetnounCompound term
Burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped.
field windingnounCompound term
The electric coil around a field magnet that produces the magneto motive force to set up the flux in an electric machine.
primary windingnounCompound term
Coil forming the part of an electrical circuit such that changing current in it induces a current in a neighboring circuit.
secondary windingnounCompound term
Coil such that current is induced in it by passing a current through the primary coil.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.