windfall

[ wind-fawl ]
See synonyms for windfall on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an unexpected gain, piece of good fortune, or the like: I've recently come into a windfall and am considering early retirement.

  2. an unexpected positive result or by-product: The industry’s profits are a windfall of war.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

adjective
  1. (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.

  2. blown down by the wind: In addition to grain, his free-range chickens eat bugs and windfall fruit.

Origin of windfall

1
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; wind1 + fall

Words Nearby windfall

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use windfall in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for windfall

windfall

/ (ˈwɪndˌfɔːl) /


noun
  1. a piece of unexpected good fortune, esp financial gain

  2. something blown down by the wind, esp a piece of fruit

  1. 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

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.