roller coaster


noun
  1. a small gravity railroad, especially in an amusement park, having a train with open cars that moves along a high, sharply winding trestle built with steep inclines that produce sudden, speedy plunges for thrill-seeking passengers.

  2. a car or train of cars for such a railroad.

  1. any phenomenon, period, or experience of persistent or violent ups and downs, as one fluctuating between prosperity and recession or elation and despair.

Origin of roller coaster

1
First recorded in 1885–90

Other definitions for roller-coaster (2 of 2)

roller-coaster
[ roh-ler-koh-ster, roh-li- ]

verb (used without object)
  1. to go up and down like a roller coaster; rise and fall: a narrow road roller-coastering around the mountain; a light boat roller-coastering over the waves.

  2. to experience a period of prosperity, happiness, security, or the like, followed by a contrasting period of economic depression, despair, or the like: The economy was roller-coastering throughout most of the decade.

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a roller coaster.

  2. resembling the progress of a ride on a roller coaster in sudden extreme changeableness.

Origin of roller-coaster

2
First recorded in 1960–65

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use roller coaster in a sentence

  • At last news, peon “brakies” on the Nacional had been using it as a roller coaster on the mountain grades going down to Monterey.

    The Mystery of The Barranca | Herman Whitaker
  • They joined them in a series of mad dashes on the roller coaster.

    Stubble | George Looms
  • The cost of all the materials for building this roller coaster did not exceed $10.

  • His wife had told him to stay off the roller coaster, but he had sneered.

    The Enormous Room | Horace Leonard Gold
  • Memory of a wild ride on a Coney Island roller coaster streaked through Dave's brain.

    Dave Dawson at Dunkirk | Robert Sydney Bowen

British Dictionary definitions for roller coaster

roller coaster

noun
  1. another term for big dipper

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