downdraught

British

/ ˈdaʊnˌdrɑːft /

noun

the large-scale downward movement of air in the lee of large objects, mountains, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mining stocks have been caught in the downdraught, too.

From Barron's • Mar. 3, 2026

Cool, sinking air from a storm cloud's downdraught spreads out across the land surface, with the leading edge called a gust front.

From BBC • Sep. 6, 2022

The turbulent uprush and downdraught of hysteria; the helpful uprushes of genius, co-operating with supraliminal thought; the profound and recuperative changes which follow on hypnotic suggestion; these have been described under their separate headings.

From Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death by Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023