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weather

n. uncountable
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈwɛðɝ// UK //wˈɛðɐ// weath·er Archaic General-service

n. the state of the air and sky at a certain time and place. You use this to talk about things like rain, sun, wind, and temperature.

n. the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, and rain.


SIMPLE

The weather is very sunny today.

CONTEXTUAL

We had to cancel our weekend hiking trip because the weather was too stormy and unpredictable.

COMPLEX

Meteorologists use sophisticated satellite data to predict how local weather patterns might shift when a high-pressure system moves across the coast.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English weder, wedir, from Old English weder, from Proto-West Germanic wedr, from Proto-Germanic wedrą, from Proto-Indo-European wedʰrom (=we-dʰrom), from *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wather (“weather”), Saterland Frisian Weeder (“weather”), Cimbrian bèttar (“weather”), Dutch weder, weer (“weather”), German Wetter (“weather”), Low German Weder (“weather”), Luxembourgish Wieder (“weather”), Yiddish וועטער (veter, “weather”), Danish vejr (“weather”), Faroese, Icelandic veður (“weather”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“weather”), Norwegian Nynorsk veder, vêr (“weather”), Swedish väder (“weather”); also more distantly related to Russian вёдро (vjódro, “fair weather”) and perhaps Albanian vrëndë (“light rain”). Other cognates include Sanskrit निर्वाण (nirvāṇa, “blown or put out, extinguished”).

Usage

Uncountable; it does not take an indefinite article ('a weather') or a plural form.

Pitfall

We had a beautiful weatherWe had beautiful weatherWeather is uncountable and cannot be used with the indefinite article 'a'.

Idioms8 entries

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