prevailing wind
Americannoun
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prevailing winds
plural
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Meteorology. a wind from a specified direction that is the typical or predominant wind direction in a particular region or season (often used in the plural).
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the dominant direction of public attitudes and trends.
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A wind that blows predominantly from a single general direction. The trade winds of the tropics, which blow from the east throughout the year, are prevailing winds.
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See illustration at wind
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
"If you're out here and there is a south-westerly wind - which is the prevailing wind in this area - we get the smell," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2025
Agguttinni means "where the prevailing wind occurs" in the Inuktitut local dialect.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
Do you have a prevailing wind direction in your yard?
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 21, 2023
Maui’s terrain and prevailing wind patterns also had a powerful effect on the fire’s movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
The prevailing wind was westerly, as at Efrafa.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
