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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.

Then on Friday, it was announced that FanDuel, which is both a betting platform and a sports network specializing in horse racing, is winding down its specialized studio and on-site talent programming this year.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 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

The omelet bar, which sat center amongst winding rows of buffet-style breakfast items, was ultimately my saving grace.

From Salon • Mar. 21, 2026

The tornado had left behind a winding trail of destruction.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

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.