chemtrail

Blend of chemical +‎ trail, modelled on contrail, late 1990s.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛmtɹeɪl/
• Hyphenation: chem‧trail

chemtrail (plural chemtrails)

1. (often in the plural) A contrail consisting of chemicals or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes, according to certain conspiracy theories.
   • 2008, Beck, “Chemtrails”, in Modern Guilt:

     You and me watching / Chemtrails is where we belong / That's what I mean when we talk in this jetstream

   • 2024 December 26, Oliver Milman, “Chemtrail conspiracy theories: why RFK Jr is watching the skies”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “We are going to stop this crime,” Kennedy [RFK Jr], who is known for his contrarian stances on vaccines and offshore wind farms, wrote about chemtrails on X in August. […] Now, scientists are faced with a resurgent focus on chemtrails amid a related, more substantive, debate over whether actual modifications to the Earth’s atmosphere should be made in a desperate attempt to slow global heating.

   • 2025 June 17, Arwa Mahdawi, “What SJP’s selfie trick tells us about the terrifying rise of conspiracy theories”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Conspiracy theories have become so mainstream that they are even prompting nonsensical legislation. Earlier this month, Louisiana lawmakers sent a bill to the state’s governor seeking to ban “chemtrails” – which don’t actually exist. […] Lawmakers in at least 11 other states are trying to advance similar “chemtrail” bans.

chemtrail (third-person singular simple present chemtrails, present participle chemtrailing, simple past and past participle chemtrailed)

1. (intransitive) To spray a contrail of this kind.

Unadapted borrowing from English chemtrail

chemtrail c

1. chemtrail

   Hypernyms: kondensationsstrimma, k-strimma