windfall
an unexpected gain, piece of good fortune, or the like: I've recently come into a windfall and am considering early retirement.
an unexpected positive result or by-product: The industry’s profits are a windfall of war.
something blown down by the wind, such as fruit or a tree: We'll have plenty of firewood for winter, as there are a lot of pine windfalls around.She has a dozen apple trees, and every day she picks up the windfalls for eating and baking.
the fall of something blown down by the wind: The orchard must be sheltered from prevailing winds, as a windfall of peaches too early in the season can be disastrous.
a quantity or mass of trees blown down by the wind, or an area containing many such trees: The road was covered by extensive windfall which had to be cut and removed.
(of profit or other gain) coming unexpectedly and in a large amount: One new business relationship can produce tens of thousands of dollars in windfall profits.
blown down by the wind: In addition to grain, his free-range chickens eat bugs and windfall fruit.
Origin of windfall
1Words Nearby windfall
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use windfall in a sentence
Because the three has become just a bit more difficult, it’s not the windfall it once was.
Did Moving The Arc Bring The 3-Pointer To A Breaking Point? | Jake Lourim | February 1, 2021 | FiveThirtyEightStaying at the forefront of the AdTech innovation curve will open doors to windfall profits.
Jingle all the way: What will 2021 mean to the advertising world? | Alex Zakrevsky | December 25, 2020 | Search Engine WatchThe second media executive said that their company has “not seen a windfall of political dollars.”
‘Our biggest quarter ever’: Publishers’ ad businesses are rebounding into the end of the year — for now | Tim Peterson | November 4, 2020 | DigidayThe world’s rapid shift to online platforms during the pandemic is a windfall for artificial intelligence, he said.
COVID gave China an edge in A.I. battle against the U.S. | Grady McGregor | October 27, 2020 | FortuneStill, he says that there is “too much uncertainty” to begin lowering reserves, a move that would prove a windfall for profits, and could happen.
Bank of America just ended a weak quarter—but there were 3 little-noticed bright spots | Shawn Tully | October 18, 2020 | Fortune
It generates tragedy, violence, and a windfall for undertakers.
Why Mexicans Are Enraged by Obama’s Big Tuesday Meeting | Ruben Navarrette Jr. | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd the boomers—at least those in the more affluent classes—are about to get yet another windfall.
With some areas, the differences are stark in terms of where this windfall lands.
Is this ignorant and sanitized speech truly a windfall for feminism?
Lana Del Rey and the Fault in Our ‘Feminist’ Stars | Amy Zimmerman | June 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Vatican reinvested about 60% of its windfall in government bonds.
How the Catholic Church Got in Bed with Mussolini | Jason Berry | February 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSince the announcement of this windfall we understand that the beneficiaries have been overwhelmed with offers of marriage.
At the sound there was a sudden rustling in the bushes behind the windfall.
The Watchers of the Trails | Charles G. D. RobertsThe Institution had just had a windfall in the shape of one of those agreeable 1000l.
Mystic London: | Charles Maurice DaviesAy, my boy, there it is—no doing in this world without the needful, and I'm not the ass to fight shy of such a windfall.
With a great expenditure of time and patience I have at last had this windfall, very rarely, I admit.
More Hunting Wasps | J. Henri Fabre
British Dictionary definitions for windfall
/ (ˈwɪndˌfɔːl) /
a piece of unexpected good fortune, esp financial gain
something blown down by the wind, esp a piece of fruit
mainly US and Canadian a plot of land covered with trees blown down by the wind
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for windfall
An unexpected profit from a business or other source. The term connotes gaining huge profits without working for them — for example, when oil companies profit from a temporary scarcity of oil.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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