vapour trail

Save This Word!

noun

a visible trail left by an aircraft flying at high altitude or through supercold air, caused by the deposition of water vapour in the engine exhaust as minute ice crystalsAlso called: condensation trail, contrail

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby vapour trail

vapour, vapour density, vapourer moth, vapour lock, vapour pressure, vapour trail, vaquero, Var, vara, varactor, Varah

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

How to use vapour trail in a sentence

Recall how Clinton returned to Arkansas from the campaign trail to preside over the execution of a mentally disabled man.
President Cuomo Would’ve Been a Lion|Jonathan Alter|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
To break her self-destructive cycle and heal, she decides to hike 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail solo.
Exclusive: The Making of Reese Witherspoon’s Golden Globe-Nominated ‘Wild’|Marlow Stern|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mothers pushed their children's heads down and they sped through town, leaving a trail of machine-gun shells in their wake.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis|Nina Strochlic|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One seemed particularly promising, by a trail with a big pile of natural brush to furnish a screen.
Knowing Where the Bodies Are Buried: An Excerpt From 'Lives in Ruins'|Marilyn Johnson|November 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Instead, that trail seems to lead to another Spinal Solutions contractor, Ryan Zavilenski.
Patients Screwed in Spine Surgery ‘Scam’|The Center for Investigative Reporting|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
No trail was so obtuse, no thicket so dense that members of that regiment would not track them to their lair.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn
If it should ever be my lot to take the Long Trail at short notice, I hope it will be under a blue sky and a blazing sun.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
She saw his back for an instant against the pale gloom of the garden, in which vapour was curling.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
When we got down into the bottom Mac turned aside to the deep-worn trail and glanced sharply down at the ruts.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
She had been walking alone with her arms hanging limp, letting her white skirts trail along the dewy path.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin