Standard Lemma guide

rollercoaster

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹəʊləˌkəʊstə/
  • General-American: /ˈɹoʊlɚˌkoʊstɚ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R OW1 L ER0 K OW2 S T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An amusement ride consisting of a train on a track that rises, falls, twists and turns.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A situation characterized by significant fluctuations in direction, emotion or intensity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rollercoaster ride

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

A univerbation of roller coaster, after the rolling and coasting motions to which the riders are subjected.

Across languages

Translations

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أُفْعُوَانِيَّة (ʔufʕuwāniyya) — amusement ride
  • Belarusian: амерыка́нскія го́ркі (amjerykánskija hórki) — amusement ride
  • Bulgarian: увеселително влакче (uveselitelno vlakče) — amusement ride
  • Bulgarian: влакче (vlakče) — amusement ride
  • Burmese: ရိုလာကိုစတာ (ruilakuica.ta) — amusement ride
  • Catalan: muntanyes russes — amusement ride
  • Chinese Cantonese: 過山車 /过山车 (gwo3 saan1 ce1) — amusement ride
  • Chinese Mandarin: 過山車 /过山车 (guòshānchē) — amusement ride
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雲霄飛車 /云霄飞车 (yúnxiāo fēichē) — amusement ride
  • Chinese Mandarin: 空中飛車 /空中飞车 (kōngzhōng fēichē) — amusement ride
  • Czech: horská dráha — amusement ride
  • Danish: rutschebane — amusement ride
  • Dutch: achtbaan — amusement ride
  • Esperanto: onda fervojo — amusement ride
  • Esperanto: reltobogano — amusement ride
  • Estonian: Ameerika mäed — amusement ride
  • Faroese: øka — amusement ride
  • Finnish: vuoristorata — amusement ride
  • French: montagnes russes — amusement ride
  • Galician: montaña rusa — amusement ride
  • German: Achterbahn — amusement ride
  • Greek: τρενάκι του λούνα παρκ (trenáki tou loúna park) — amusement ride
  • Greek: τρενάκι του τρόμου (trenáki tou trómou) — amusement ride
  • Hebrew: רַכֶּבֶת הָרִים (rakevet harim) — amusement ride
  • Hungarian: hullámvasút — amusement ride
  • Icelandic: rússíbani — amusement ride
  • Indonesian: kereta luncur — amusement ride
  • Indonesian: wahana halilintar — amusement ride
  • Interlingua: montanias russe — amusement ride
  • Irish: rollchóstóir — amusement ride
  • Italian: montagne russe — amusement ride
  • Italian: otto volante — amusement ride
  • Italian: ottovolante — amusement ride
  • Japanese: ローラーコースター (rōrākōsutā) — amusement ride
  • Japanese: ジェットコースター (jettokōsutā) — amusement ride
  • Javanese: kréta luncur — amusement ride
  • Korean: 롤러코스터 (rolleokoseuteo) — amusement ride
  • Korean: 제트코스터 (jeteukoseuteo) — amusement ride
  • Korean: 청룡열차 (cheongnyong'yeolcha) — amusement ride
  • Latin: curriculum retroflexum — amusement ride
  • Latin: vectura flexuosa — amusement ride
  • Macedonian: лу́да желе́зница (lúda želéznica) — amusement ride
  • Māori: waka rōnaki — amusement ride
  • Mongolian: галзуу хулгана (galzuu xulgana) — amusement ride
  • Norwegian Bokmål: berg-og-dal-bane — amusement ride
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: berg-og-dal-bane — amusement ride
  • Persian: ترن هوایی (teran-e havâyi) — amusement ride
  • Polish: rollercoaster — amusement ride
  • Polish: kolejka górska — amusement ride
  • Portuguese: montanha-russa — amusement ride
  • Romanian: montagne russe — amusement ride
  • Romansh: muntogna russa — amusement ride
  • Russian: америка́нские го́рки (amerikánskije górki) — amusement ride
  • Serbo-Croatian: влак смрти — amusement ride
  • Serbo-Croatian: vlak smrti — amusement ride
  • Slovak: horská dráha — amusement ride
  • Slovene: vlak smrti — amusement ride
  • Lower Sorbian: padata zeleznicka — amusement ride
  • Spanish: montaña rusa — amusement ride
  • Swedish: bergochdalbana — amusement ride
  • Swedish: berg-och-dal-bana — amusement ride
  • Thai: รถไฟเหาะตีลังกา (rót-fai-hɔ̀-dtii-lang-gaa) — amusement ride
  • Turkish: lunapark treni — amusement ride
  • Turkish: rusdağı — amusement ride
  • Ukrainian: америка́нські гі́рки (amerykánsʹki hírky) — amusement ride
  • Vietnamese: tàu lượn siêu tốc — amusement ride
  • Welsh: ffigar-êt — amusement ride
Real reading context

rollercoaster in complete knowledge articles