Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wind down

/waɪnd ˈdaʊn/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.80 in modern English

Syllables: wind -down
IPA: /waɪnd ˈdaʊn/

16

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To lower by winding, as with a crank or windlass.

Transitive verb

verb

Transitive verb

verb

To shut down slowly (by degrees or in phases).

Transitive verb

verb

To slow, as if coming to an end; to become calmer or less busy.

Intransitive verb

verb

To relax; to get rid of stress; to destress.

Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"Wind down the car window if you want to talk to me."
"You'd better wind down that wind-up toy before you take it apart, or pieces might go flying."
"A program as complex as the Space Shuttle program takes some time to wind down."
"As a result, Bowman admitted, Sellafield’s scientists are having to invent, mid-marathon, the process of winding the site down – and they’re finding that they still don’t know enough about it."
"The festival seems to be winding down now."
"As the bar event started to wind down past midnight, Ryan and a group of friends walked over to an after-hours house party at a residence on Burfield Drive, parallel to the major ski resorts."

Usage

Inflected Forms

winds down (present, singular) winding down (participle, present) wound down (participle, past) wound down (past)

Derived Forms

winddown

Synonyms

roll down lower unwind deactivate shut down taper off calm down chill out let off steam

Antonyms

wind up roll up raise wind activate fire up power up start up boot up

Questions

How do you pronounce wind down?: The recorded pronunciation is /waɪnd ˈdaʊn/.
What does wind down mean?: To lower by winding, as with a crank or windlass.

How to pronounce wind down

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “wind down”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/waɪnd ˈdaʊn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “wind down”.
Repeat and practice — Say “wind down” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.