English

Noun

tailspin ‎(plural tailspins)

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. A severe mental or emotional collapse; emotional breakdown.

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

3. Any sharp, sustained, often uncontrollable descent or decline.

   The present stock tailspin proves bankruptcy is imminent.

   • 2010 September, Chris Sommers, "Merge", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 77:

     St. Louis, the fourth-largest U.S. city in 1900, is fading fast […] . Jobs, and airline, an educated population—all gone or in a tailspin.

Translations

Anagrams

• alpinist, antislip, pintails, tailpins