shock-stalled

UK/ˈʃɒk ˌstɔːld/US/ˈʃɑk ˌstɔld/

adjective

Of an aircraft or a component of it: having undergone a shock stall.

Meanings

adjectiveshock-stalled (comparative more shock-stalled, superlative most shock-stalled)

comparative more shock-stalled · superlative most shock-stalled · alternative shock stalled

  1. aeronauticsOf an aircraft or a component of it: having undergone a shock stall.

    Some parts of both Wilson's and Greenwood's aircraft were shock-stalled, which means that all normal lift characteristics were upset during the run.

    1994, John Mills, When Peace Broke Out: Britain, 1945, London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →ISBN, page 135
    3 more examples

    The Meteor, Group Captain [Hugh Joseph] Wilson said, puts its nose up at the shock stall, so that had the aircraft become fully shock stalled during the record runs, the pilot would probably have been able to recover without hitting the sea. But at the speeds achieved—the fastest run recorded being 983 kilometers or 611 m.p.h.—only parts of the Meteor (for instance, the area over the wind screen) were shock stalled.

    1946 February, Oliver Stewart, “London Letter”, in William B[ernard] Ziff [Sr.], editor, Flying, volume 38, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50, columns 2–3

    This is only partially true, since drag increase can be overcome by brute force on the part of the propulsion system, but ignorance of the rather delicate stability and control problems when flying in a shock-stalled condition will probably result in disaster.

    1951, William F. Hilton, High-speed Aerodynamics, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, →OCLC, page 33

    At about Mach 0.9 a marked recovery in lift occurred, suggesting that the separated ("shock-stalled") flow tended to disappear as Mach 1 was approached.

    1980, John V[ernon] Becker, The High-speed Frontier: Case Histories of Four NACA Programs, 1920–1950 (NASA SP; 445), Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, →OCLC, page 38
verb
  1. alternativeAlternative form of shock stalled.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

shock-stalled. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock-stalled

MLA

“shock-stalled.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock-stalled. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shock-stalled,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shock-stalled.

Source: shock-stalled on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.