sleet
precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls (distinguished from hail2).
Chiefly British. a mixture of rain and snow.
to send down sleet.
to fall as or like sleet.
Origin of sleet
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use sleet in a sentence
Over the next hour or we could see some lingering snow and sleet pivot back through our northern and western areas but little or no additional accumulation is expected.
Sleet and snow pull away after midnight leaving behind falling temperatures and icy spots | Jason Samenow, Dan Stillman | December 17, 2020 | Washington PostFurther north and west in Carroll, Frederick, Loudoun and northern Fauquier counties, and points north and west are where more significant accumulations of snow, sleet and freezing rain will make roads hazardous during the afternoon into evening.
Sleet and snow pull away after midnight leaving behind falling temperatures and icy spots | Jason Samenow, Dan Stillman | December 17, 2020 | Washington PostMelted snowflakes spend a longer time falling through subfreezing air, allowing them time to freeze into pellets of sleet.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington PostThe deeper, colder part of the air mass was situated across the District’s northwestern suburbs, where 3 to 5 inches of snow accumulated, mixing with sleet.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington PostAs much as 3 to 4 inches of sleet accumulated across a broad area.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington Post
He bent his head to the sleeting blast and darted down the middle of the street to Second Avenue.
Flamsted quarries | Mary E. WallerMuriel turned to look out of the window toward the town, but all that she could see was the grey, sleeting, wind-driven rain.
Rilla of the Lighthouse | Grace May NorthIt was an awful night, raining and sleeting—but he took no notice of the weather.
Heart and Science | Wilkie CollinsIt had been sleeting and the pavements here and there were still icy.
Philip Dru: Administrator | Edward Mandell HouseBlow this climate, it's always sleeting and raining in this rotten hole!
The Weird of the Wentworths, Vol. 2 | Johannes Scotus
British Dictionary definitions for sleet
/ (sliːt) /
partly melted falling snow or hail or (esp US) partly frozen rain
mainly US the thin coat of ice that forms when sleet or rain freezes on cold surfaces
(intr) to fall as sleet
Origin of sleet
1Derived forms of sleet
- sleety, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for sleet
[ slēt ]
Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of frozen or partially frozen raindrops, often when the temperature is near the freezing point. Sleet usually leaves the cloud in the form of snow that melts as it passes through warm layers of air during its descent. The raindrops and partially melted snowflakes then freeze in the colder layers nearer the earth before striking the ground as pellets of ice, which usually bounce. By contrast,hail forms by the accumulation of layers of ice on the hailstone as it moves up and down in the cloud, and hailstones can become much larger than sleet pellets. The word sleet is also used informally to describe a mixture of snow, sleet, and rain.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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