roller coaster
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.
a car or train of cars for such a railroad.
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
1Other definitions for roller-coaster (2 of 2)
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.
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.
of, relating to, or characteristic of a roller coaster.
resembling the progress of a ride on a roller coaster in sudden extreme changeableness.
Origin of roller-coaster
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use roller coaster in a sentence
They're made to make a lot of money and to get teenagers in a kind of experience, a roller coaster ride.
‘The Babadook’ Is the Best (and Most Sincere) Horror Movie of the Year | Samuel Fragoso | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis cadence is a steady beat rather than a roller coaster, and his words sparing and simple.
His Wednesday is going to be a roller-coaster ride from Rush Limbaugh to Fox to Laura Ingraham to who knows what.
Eric Cantor’s Primary Loss Is a Political Earthquake. And It’s Awful. | Michael Tomasky | June 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSome saw their donation as a ticket to a theme park roller coaster ride.
Speed Read: Kenneth Vogel’s ‘Big Money’ Shows How PACs Control Politics | William O’Connor | June 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHow are you weathering that roller coaster, with each and every year the future so up in the air?
Jim Rash on ‘The Writers’ Room’ and the Future of ‘Community’ | Kevin Fallon | April 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
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 WhitakerThey joined them in a series of mad dashes on the roller coaster.
Stubble | George LoomsThe cost of all the materials for building this roller coaster did not exceed $10.
The Boy Mechanic, Book 2 | VariousHis wife had told him to stay off the roller coaster, but he had sneered.
The Enormous Room | Horace Leonard GoldMemory 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
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
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