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• snow
  snow

  noun

  precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.
• Snow
  Snow

  noun

  Sir Charles Percy C. P. Snow, 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

snow

¹ American  

[snoh] / snoʊ /

noun

• snow
  plural

1. Meteorology. precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.

2. these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.

3. the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.

4. something resembling a layer of these flakes in whiteness, softness, or the like.

   the snow of fresh linen.

5. Literary.

   1. white blossoms.

   2. the white color of snow.

6. Slang. cocaine or heroin.

7. Informal. Usually snows snow tires.

   Most people up here keep their snows on through the end of April.

8. white spots or bands on a television screen caused by a weak signal.

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verb (used without object)

• snows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• snowed,
  past participle,  past
• snowing
  present participle

1. to send down snow; fall as snow.

2. to descend like snow.

verb (used with object)

• snows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• snowed,
  past participle,  past
• snowing
  present participle

1. to let fall as or like snow.

2. Slang.

   1. to make an overwhelming impression on.

      The view really snowed them.

   2. to persuade or deceive.

      She was snowed into believing everything.

verb phrase

1. snow under

   1. to cover with or bury in snow.

   2. to overwhelm with a larger amount of something than can be conveniently dealt with.

   3. to defeat overwhelmingly.

Snow ² American  

[snoh] / snoʊ /

noun

1. Sir Charles Percy C. P. Snow, 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

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Snow ¹ British  

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. C ( harles ) P ( ercy ), Baron. 1905–80, British novelist and physicist. His novels include the series Strangers and Brothers (1949–70)

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snow ² British  

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. precipitation from clouds in the form of flakes of ice crystals formed in the upper atmosphere

2. a layer of snowflakes on the ground

3. a fall of such precipitation

4. anything resembling snow in whiteness, softness, etc

5. the random pattern of white spots on a television or radar screen, produced by noise in the receiver and occurring when the signal is weak or absent

6. slang cocaine

7. See carbon dioxide snow

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verb

1. (intr; with it as subject) to be the case that snow is falling

2. (tr; usually passive, foll by over, under, in, or up) to cover or confine with a heavy fall of snow

3. to fall or cause to fall as or like snow

4. slang (tr) to deceive or overwhelm with elaborate often insincere talk See snow job

5. to be overwhelmed, esp with paperwork

snow Scientific  

/ snō /

1. Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of ice crystals that have complex branched hexagonal patterns. Snow usually falls from stratus and stratocumulus clouds, but it can also fall from cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.

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snow Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing snow

• pure as the driven snow

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• snowless
  adjective
• snowlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• snow
  plural

Participles

• snowing
  present
• snowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• snow
  simple
• snows
  simple
• have snowed
  perfect
• has snowed
  perfect
• am snowing
  progressive
• are snowing
  progressive
• is snowing
  progressive
• have been snowing
  perfect progressive
• has been snowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• snowed
  simple
• had snowed
  perfect
• was snowing
  progressive
• were snowing
  progressive
• had been snowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will snow
  simple
• will have snowed
  perfect
• will be snowing
  progressive
• will have been snowing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of snow¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun snou(e), Old English snāw; cognate with Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snǣr, Gothic snaiws, Latin nix (genitive nivis ), Greek níps (accusative nípha ), Old Church Slavonic sněgŭ; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of Snow²

First recorded in 1665–75

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Explanation

The fluffy white precipitation that falls from the sky in the winter is snow. Many winter sports, like skiing and sledding, require snow. Scientifically, snow is water vapor that freezes and forms ice crystals. You probably think of snow as the cold white stuff that can be formed into balls and thrown. Snow is a verb, too: "I love to watch it snow." Informally, to snow is also to hide your motives in order to trick someone: "She planned to snow her sister into thinking the cookies were all gone."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snow Snow snows snowed snowing

Temperatures are dropping in Ukraine, and parts of the country have had the first winter snow.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

Rapid sea ice loss around Scandinavia is warming that region, while more snow in East Asia is cooling it, he said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Over the next few days, melting snow and rain began to pool in the pipe, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

According to Pelto, the exposed surfaces on Vega Island and neighboring islands suggest that relatively little fresh snow accumulated over the winter.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

Long before the sum was raised Father came down with the hepatitis that almost cost his life: during the long stay in the hospital his beard turned snow white.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Snow across North America and Eurasia reaches its greatest accumulation in March.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

Snow is like glacier food - and under stable conditions some of it would eventually compact into ice.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

“Neon Signs,” with vocals by Andrew Wyatt of electro-pop trio Miike Snow, has an appealing groove and worthy harmonies, but you can’t help but wish the chorus were considerably better.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

“What was once a 1-in-500 or 1-in-1,000 chance, it was now a 1-in-100 or a 1-in-75 chance,” Snow said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

“You have no idea how great that news is, that Snow White is still alive.”

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

The deep snows encountered 20 years ago are becoming rarer and Greater Prespa Lake is shrinking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Paris — There’s a present-day answer to the question that was posed in verse by the French medieval poet and street brawler François Villon: “Where are the snows of yesteryear?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026

Or as in the Northeast today, when it snows it blizzards.

From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026

"We've got agents across the road network. But I would appeal to people, please please ask yourselves do you need to travel when it snows heavily," he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026

They were taken off onto small snows and brigs, if that they could afford; and others, finding no route of escape upon the water, fled the town by land, praying for mercy.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

On Boxing Day, he said it snowed so much, his instruments were buried.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025

Although it snowed in Cleveland and Chicago this week and New Yorkers bundled up, gas traders don’t expect enough sustained cold weather to eat into supplies until next month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

It’s a similar weather pattern to the one seen in January 2022, when it hardly snowed in the Sierra Nevada.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025

He recalled his wife peering out the window and remarking, “Hey, it snowed last night.”

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2024

It had snowed four or five inches, so the dogs would have to break trail.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

And he’d walk in, and it would just start snowing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

He runs five mornings a week year-round, even when it is snowing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Lime also faces a seasonal risk: Put simply, scooters and bikes are a lot less popular when its snowing or raining, and more in demand when it’s warm and dry outside.

From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026

"It was a bit rough around the edges, but it was snowing quite a bit, so it covered up the mistakes."

From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026

I could see it was still snowing outside, but at first I could see very little else.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

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Related Words

• blizzard
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