Tailspin

Origin

Compound of tail + spin.

Full definition of tailspin

Noun

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.

Anagrams

• alpinist, antislip, pintails, tailpins