rudder

noun

rud·der ˈrə-dər

: an underwater blade that is positioned at the stern of a boat or ship and controlled by its helm and that when turned causes the vessel's head to turn in the same direction

: a movable auxiliary airfoil on an airplane usually attached at the rear end that serves to control direction of flight in the horizontal plane see airplane illustration

: a guiding force or strategy

rudderless

ˈrə-dər-ləs

adjective

Examples of rudder in a Sentence

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Tesla remains a wild card, many years behind Waymo and the others in safety performance, but trying different and brash approaches with the most unpredictable CEO behind the rudder, able to literally control governments to get his way. —

Brad Templeton, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024 Most airplanes in the world have vertical tails or rudders to prevent Dutch roll instabilities, a combination of yawing and sideways motions with rolling that looks a bit like the movements of a skater. —

Ars Technica, 27 Nov. 2024 Often the creatures will ram into the rudders, potentially rendering the vessels inoperable, or even bite off pieces of the boats. —

Josh Lederman, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2024 The Boxer deployed with Camp Pendleton Marines on April 1 but had to return to San Diego about 10 days later due to a rudder problem. —

Gary Robbins, The Mercury News, 9 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for rudder