trade wind

noun

Definition of trade wind

: a wind blowing almost constantly in one direction; especially : a wind blowing almost continually toward the equator from the northeast in the belt between the northern horse latitudes and the doldrums and from the southeast in the belt between the southern horse latitudes and the doldrums —usually used in plural

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Recent Examples of trade wind from the Web

There, instead of westward-blowing trade winds that guide most hurricanes toward North America, Ophelia was under the influence of the jet stream, which quickly began pushing the storm northeast toward Europe.

— ben panko, Smithsonian, "How Ex-Hurricane Ophelia Turned Skies Red Over the U.K," 16 Oct. 2017
The trade winds swirling around LaMarcus Aldridge went nowhere.

— rob mahoney, SI.com, "Did the Spurs Take Steps Back This Summer?," 1 Sep. 2017
The Intertropical Convergence Zone is a band of precipitation that flirts with the equator—where the trade winds meet in the tropics and hot air rises, dumping out prodigious amounts of rain.

— peter brannen, The Atlantic, "The Strange Future Hurricane Harvey Portends," 31 Aug. 2017
The property's best feature was its situation, which offered a terrific view looking westward down the coastline toward the fishing town of Sandy Bay and made the house open to the trade winds, which provided natural climate control.

— Town & Country, "Take the Money and Run," 6 Dec. 2012

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'trade wind.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.