sweptback

[swept-bak]

adjective

Aeronautics.

1. (of the leading edge of an airfoil) forming a markedly obtuse angle with the fuselage.

2. (of an aircraft or winged missile) having wings of this type.

sweptback

/ ˈswɛptˌbæk /

adjective

1. (of an aircraft wing) having leading edge and trailing edges inclined backwards towards the rear of the fuselage

Word History and Origins

Origin of sweptback¹

First recorded in 1915–20; adj. use of verb phrase swept back

Example Sentences

Van Tatenhove was covered in tattoos with several just visible below his sweptback gray hair.

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At 37, he emits the polished gloss of a man on the rise in a capital dominated by much-older power brokers: not one strand of his thick, sweptback hair is out of place or gray.

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But Stalin’s famous visage, with its bushy mustache and sweptback hair, is upstaged by the throngs of ordinary citizens who gather to bear witness and pay tribute.

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At Chloé’s spring show, for example, models wore a more low-key, but still bouncy, sweptback look.

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Simon Harrold was a tweedy Englishman in his mid-40s, with a neat, white beard and thinning, sweptback hair, longer in the back.

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