backwash

1. 1.

   the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller

   Synonymsslipstreamairstreamracewash

   Broaderflow
2. 2.

   the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event)

   “the aftermath of war”

   “in the wake of the accident no one knew how many had been injured”

   Synonymsaftermathwake

   Broaderconsequence
3. 3.

   the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward

   “the motorboat's wake capsized the canoe”

   Synonymswake

   Broaderwave

Other forms of backwash

plural

backwashes·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about backwash

What does backwash mean?

backwash means "the flow of air that is driven backwards by an aircraft propeller". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in backwash?

backwash has 2 syllables: bac-kwash. The stress falls on "bac". In IPA it is /ˈbæˌkwɑʃ/.

What is another word for backwash?

Close synonyms include slipstream, airstream, race, wash, aftermath. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is backwash a common word?

backwash is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.