white-knuckle flight
- noun
- Informal
:
vuelo aterrador
- After a white-knuckle flight through severe turbulence, the passengers applauded when the plane finally landed safely.
Examples
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She vowed never to fly again after experiencing a white-knuckle flight full of terrifying bumps and sudden drops.
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My first business trip included a white-knuckle flight over the Rocky Mountains during a snowstorm.
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That was a terrifying white-knuckle flight!
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My last white-knuckle flight had me gripping the seat.
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After a white-knuckle flight through severe turbulence, the passengers applauded when the plane finally landed safely.
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My first business trip included a white-knuckle flight over the Rocky Mountains during a snowstorm.
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She vowed never to fly again after experiencing a white-knuckle flight full of terrifying bumps and sudden drops.
Synonyms
1
5.5
A very stressful event that makes you feel worried
Antonyms
How Frightening
Surface Forms
Morphology
white-knuckle + flight
Although 'white' and 'knuckle' are transparent individually, their compound 'white-knuckle' is a metaphorical image (knuckles blanching from gripping in fear) rather than a straightforward compositional meaning. A B1 learner who knows the words would at best get an indirect hint from the image but would unlikely reliably infer 'extremely frightening' without exposure or cultural knowledge, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrase white-knuckle flight comes from the image of passengers holding the armrests so hard their knuckles turn white. That's why it now means 'a very scary flight'.