roller coaster

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   a fairground ride with small cars that travel up and down steep slopes and around sharp curves on a track

   Grammar: Countable: one roller coaster, two roller coasters.

   Patterns

   • ride a roller coaster
   • go on a roller coaster
   • a roller coaster at a theme park

   The children begged to go on the roller coaster again.

   She screamed with excitement all the way around the roller coaster.

   The park's newest roller coaster reaches speeds of over 80 miles per hour.

2. 2nounsingularfigurative

   a situation or experience in which feelings or events change rapidly and repeatedly between good and bad

   Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'a roller coaster of emotions' or 'an emotional roller coaster'.

   Patterns

   • a roller coaster of emotions
   • an emotional roller coaster
   • go through a roller coaster

   The last year has been a roller coaster of emotions for the whole team.

   Their relationship was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish.

   The stock market has been on a roller coaster ride this month.

3. 3adjectivebefore a nounfigurative

   full of sudden changes in mood, success, or situation; not steady or predictable

   Grammar: Used before a noun, often hyphenated: 'a roller-coaster career'.

   Patterns

   • a roller-coaster ride
   • a roller-coaster year
   • a roller-coaster career

   After a roller-coaster season, the team finally won the championship.

   She has had a roller-coaster career, with great successes and serious setbacks.

   The company's roller-coaster profits make it hard to predict next year's results.

Word forms

Common combinations

ride a roller coaster

We waited an hour to ride the new roller coaster.

roller coaster of emotions

The film takes you on a roller coaster of emotions.

roller-coaster ride

The election campaign was a roller-coaster ride for everyone involved.

go on a roller coaster

He was too scared to go on the roller coaster.

emotional roller coaster

Caring for a sick relative can be an emotional roller coaster.

Synonyms and how they differ

big dipper

British, old-fashioned; a roller coaster, especially an older wooden one. Now less common than 'roller coaster'.

switchback

A track that rises and falls, sometimes used for a roller coaster; more common in American English for a mountain railway.

Opposites

Word family

rollercoaster noun

A common one-word spelling of the same word, used especially in American English.

Commonly confused: roller coaster or rollerblade?

Practice

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