maelstrom

Definition of maelstromnext
as in vortex
water moving rapidly in a circle with a hollow in the center our rubber raft got caught in a maelstrom in a particularly rough stretch of white water

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of maelstrom France’s President Emmanuel Macron was another one caught in the maelstrom. Andrew Carey, CNN Money, 20 Jan. 2026 Iconic photographs from pioneering observatories of decades past, such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, had shown this maelstrom as an extended haze around the nebula’s glowing iris. Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026 New motherhood is always a maelstrom, but the new new motherhood, it has lately been suggested, has become a tempest of a different, close-to-unbearable order. Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026 Swept up in a maelstrom of fame, interpreter Ho-jin becomes her confidant. Kayti Burt, Time, 16 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for maelstrom
Recent Examples of Synonyms for maelstrom
vortex
Noun
  • Single-digit cold invades North Around the same time as the heat starts blasting Phoenix, the polar vortex — a system that usually keeps frigid air penned up near the North Pole — is forecast to send its chill deep into the Midwest and East, even bordering some of the Southeast, Maue said.
    Seth Borenstein, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Normally bomb cyclones get their energy from warm ocean waters, but this one will draw power from the polar vortex.
    Seth Borenstein, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Maelstrom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/maelstrom. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.

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