English-French translations for whirlwind

• cyclone
  Il s'agit de cataclysmes naturels dont nous ne cherchons pas à connaître l'origine, comme les cyclones par exemple. They are natural disasters, whose origins we often do not question, such as whirlwinds.
• tourbillon
  Mais on a moins souligné le tourbillon dans lequel se serait retrouvée notre monnaie sans la politique économique et monétaire de l'Union européenne. However, less emphasis has been placed on the whirlwind in which our currency would have found itself without the European Union's economic and monetary policy.

Definition of whirlwind

• A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion
• Rapid and minimal: ''a whirlwind tour'', ''a whirlwind romance''

Examples

• The weeks leading up to the convention were a whirlwind of preparation and hurried activity.
• Once he got that new scooter he turned into a whirlwind and damaged all the flowers.

Related words

• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
• sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
• he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind