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# headwinds

noun (headwind, headwinds; plural usual in the figurative sense)

«headwinds» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (literal) wind blowing towards you as you move, which slows you down. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#m1)
2. (euphemism, business and economics) problems or difficulties that slow growth or hurt sales: «the company faced headwinds». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#m2)

### In the lessons

Business and financial jargon, borrowed from flying and sailing, used to blame outside forces for weak results without admitting mistakes; official, all regions. The literal sense is used in sport, flying and science.

### Examples

- Our plane was late because of strong headwinds. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x1)
- The cyclists struggled against the headwind. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x2)
- The company blamed currency headwinds for weak results. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x3)
- The economy faces headwinds from high prices. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x4)
- Running into a headwind makes the race harder. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x5)
- "Headwinds" is the boss's way of saying sales are down. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x6)
- The opposite of a headwind is a tailwind, which helps you. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x7)
- A plane flying into a 50 km/h headwind at 800 km/h moves over the ground at 750 km/h. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/#x8)

### Note

Trap: in business it means problems, often an excuse. In science, a headwind reduces ground speed: subtract the wind speed; a tailwind adds it. Plain words: problems, difficulties.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «headwinds» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/headwinds/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«headwinds» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/headwinds.html) on Mova free.