winding

[wahyn-ding]

noun

1. the act of a person or thing that winds.

2. a bend, turn, or flexure.

3. a coiling, folding, or wrapping, as of one thing about another.

4. something that is wound or coiled, or a single round of it.

5. Electricity.

   1. a symmetrically laid, electrically conducting current path in any device.

   2. the manner of such coiling.

      a series winding.

adjective

1. bending or turning; sinuous.

2. spiral, as stairs.

winding

/ ˈwaɪndɪŋ /

noun

1. a curving or sinuous course or movement

2. anything that has been wound or wrapped around something

3. a particular manner or style in which something has been wound

4. a curve, bend, or complete turn in wound material, a road, etc

5. (often plural) devious thoughts or behaviour

   the tortuous windings of political argumentation

6. one or more turns of wire forming a continuous coil through which an electric current can pass, as used in transformers, generators, etc

7. another name for wind 2

8. a coil of tubing in certain brass instruments, esp the French horn

adjective

1. curving; sinuous

   a winding road

Other Word Forms

• windingly adverb
• windingness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of winding¹

before 1050; Middle English (noun), Old English windung (noun); wind ², -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

When the day ended, I’d head home, walking across the grassy lawns of the campus at twilight, then winding my way through town until I arrived.

Read more on Literature

But after Sunday’s 22-19 dumping at the hands of divisional rival Denver, which dropped the Chiefs to 5-5 and outside the playoff picture, it’s fair to wonder if the Kansas City era is winding down.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The winding back of rate cut bets comes amid growing unease about the sky-high valuations in the tech sector and warnings that a bubble has formed that could soon burst.

Read more on Barron's

Cesium 137 behaves like potassium and is used throughout the body, winding up mostly in muscle tissue.

Read more on Literature

Over in Corporate America, earnings reports are winding down.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• bending www.thesaurus.com
• curving www.thesaurus.com
• meandering 
• serpentine 
• sinuous 
• snaking www.thesaurus.com
• tortuous 
• turning 
• twisting 
• twisty 
• windy 
• zigzag