AIR CURRENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does air current mean? 

• AIR CURRENT (noun)
  The noun AIR CURRENT has 1 sense:

1. air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure

  Familiarity information: AIR CURRENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AIR CURRENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

air current; current of air; wind

Context example:

the radioactivity was being swept upwards by the air current and out into the atmosphere

Hypernyms ("air current" is a kind of...):

atmospheric condition; conditions; weather; weather condition (the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation)

Meronyms (substance of "air current"):

air (a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "air current"):

east wind; easter; easterly (a wind from the east)

west wind; wester (wind that blows from west to east)

draft; draught (a current of air (usually coming into a chimney or room or vehicle))

thermal (rising current of warm air)

squall (sudden violent winds; often accompanied by precipitation)

south wind; souther; southerly (a wind from the south)

samiel; simoom; simoon (a violent hot sand-laden wind on the deserts of Arabia and North Africa)

prevailing wind (the predominant wind direction)

boreas; north wind; norther; northerly (a wind that blows from the north)

monsoon (any wind that changes direction with the seasons)

monsoon (a seasonal wind in southern Asia; blows from the southwest (bringing rain) in summer and from the northeast in winter)

blast; blow; gust (a strong current of air)

gale (a strong wind moving 45-90 knots; force 7 to 10 on Beaufort scale)

sou'easter; southeaster (a strong wind from the southeast)

sou'wester; southwester (a strong wind from the southwest)

northwest wind; northwester (a wind from the northwest)

airstream (a relatively well-defined prevailing wind)

languor (oppressively still air)

doldrums (a belt of calms and light winds between the northern and southern trade winds of the Atlantic and Pacific)

tailwind (wind blowing in the same direction as the path of a ship or aircraft)

catabatic wind; katabatic wind (a wind caused by the downward motion of cold air)

headwind (wind blowing opposite to the path of a ship or aircraft)

high wind (a very strong wind)

Santa Ana (a strong hot dry wind that blows in winter from the deserts of southern California toward the Pacific Coast)

khamsin (an oppressively hot southerly wind from the Sahara that blows across Egypt in the spring)

foehn; fohn (a warm dry wind that blows down the northern slopes of the Alps)

crosswind (wind blowing across the path of a ship or aircraft)

harmattan (a dusty wind from the Sahara that blows toward the western coast of Africa during the winter)

chinook; chinook wind; snow eater (a warm dry wind blowing down the eastern slopes of the Rockies)

air; breeze; gentle wind; zephyr (a slight wind (usually refreshing))

calm; calm air (wind moving at less than 1 knot; 0 on the Beaufort scale)

 Context examples 

A device designed to create an air current through the rotation of a planar surface.

(Fan Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

A special class of inhalations consisting of a drug or combination of drugs, that by virtue of their high vapor pressure, can be carried by an air current into the nasal passage where they exert their effect; the container from which the inhalant generally is administered is known as an inhaler.

(Inhalant Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)