wind tunnel
noun
: a tunnellike passage through which air is blown at a known velocity to investigate air flow around an object (such as an airplane part or model) placed in the passage
Examples of wind tunnel in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Specialized channels underneath the food basket direct the hot air back at your food – creating a hot wind tunnel, with your food right at the center of it all.
—
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2024
Intentionally constructed wind tunnels that help make Masdar City feel 10 degrees cooler than downtown Abu Dhabi.
—Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023
Spring Break Bash programming at Betty Brinn Children's Museum
Betty Brinn Children's Museum — open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 25-April 5 — will have special spring break programming, including paper airplane creation and experimentation with gravity in a wind tunnel.
—Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2024
Team principal Andrea Stella would like to build on this and will hope that the lessons learned from the team’s new wind tunnel can drive this year’s car, MCL38, to success.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 8 Mar. 2024
Having attracted recent employees from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, the team had already built a 2023 model car at 60% scale and had run it in Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne Germany, according to a report this week from The Athletic.
—Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 31 Jan. 2024
That version was then subjected to Porsche’s Stuttgart wind tunnel, where it was given aerodynamic enhancements and emerged as a smoothed, flattened, and even more attractive race car.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 16 Feb. 2024
Enter the wind tunnel – of love – at iFly in Union City.
—Kate Bradshaw, The Mercury News, 12 Feb. 2024
At first, their research will take place on Earth’s surface, in wind tunnels and supercomputers and laboratories.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Dec. 2023
Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2024
Intentionally constructed wind tunnels that help make Masdar City feel 10 degrees cooler than downtown Abu Dhabi.
—Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023
Spring Break Bash programming at Betty Brinn Children's Museum
Betty Brinn Children's Museum — open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 25-April 5 — will have special spring break programming, including paper airplane creation and experimentation with gravity in a wind tunnel.
—Amy Schwabe, Journal Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2024
Team principal Andrea Stella would like to build on this and will hope that the lessons learned from the team’s new wind tunnel can drive this year’s car, MCL38, to success.
—Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 8 Mar. 2024
Having attracted recent employees from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, the team had already built a 2023 model car at 60% scale and had run it in Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne Germany, according to a report this week from The Athletic.
—Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 31 Jan. 2024
That version was then subjected to Porsche’s Stuttgart wind tunnel, where it was given aerodynamic enhancements and emerged as a smoothed, flattened, and even more attractive race car.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 16 Feb. 2024
Enter the wind tunnel – of love – at iFly in Union City.
—Kate Bradshaw, The Mercury News, 12 Feb. 2024
At first, their research will take place on Earth’s surface, in wind tunnels and supercomputers and laboratories.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wind tunnel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1911, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near wind tunnel
Cite this Entry
“Wind tunnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wind%20tunnel. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
wind tunnel
noun
: a passage like a tunnel through which air is blown at a known speed to investigate air flow around an object (as an airplane part or model) placed in the passage
More from Merriam-Webster on wind tunnel
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about wind tunnel
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