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Synonyms

winding

American  
[wahyn-ding] / ˈwaɪn dɪŋ /

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 British  
/ 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

"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

adjective

  1. curving; sinuous

    a winding road
"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

Other Word Forms

  • windingly adverb
  • windingness noun

Etymology

Origin of winding

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Authorities said the crowd that gathered at the federal building later in the afternoon, as the rally was winding down, had ignored orders to disperse.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2026

OpenAI also appears to be winding down ChatGPT’s video functionality and taking all its animation APIs offline.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Meanwhile, OpenAI announced on Tuesday afternoon that it is winding down the app for its AI video generator, Sora — an example of a compute-intensive product that requires a lot of memory and storage.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026

OpenAI said it would later provide timelines for winding down the standalone app, as well as details on how people can preserve their work.

From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026

Koffi looked over her shoulder a final time before heading down the market’s winding roads.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.