wintry

[ win-tree ]

adjective

, win·tri·er, win·tri·est.

1. of or characteristic of winter: wintry skies.

   wintry blasts;

   wintry skies.

2. resembling winter weather; having snow, frost, cold, storms, etc.:

   We had wintry weather well into May last year.

3. suggestive of winter, as in lack of warmth or cheer:

   a wintry manner.

   Synonyms: cheerless, bleak, cold

wintry

/ -trɪ; ˈwɪntrɪ; ˈwɪntərɪ /

adjective

1. (esp of weather) of or characteristic of winter
2. lacking cheer or warmth; bleak

Derived Forms

• ˈwintriness, noun
• ˈwintrily, adverb

Other Words From

• wintri·ly adverb
• wintri·ness noun
• un·wintry adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wintry¹

First recorded before 900; Old English wintrig (not recorded in Middle English ); winter, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Then on Saturday, a wintry mix of precipitation is possible throughout the region.

From Washington Post

The snow or wintry mix could continue Saturday night as lows drop toward the 20s.

From Washington Post

This drawn-out wintry weather event may come in two waves, traveling along an Arctic front draped over the Mid-Atlantic.

From Washington Post

Light wintry precipitation arrives late night, most likely starting as rain or a mix and turning to snow.

From Washington Post

Nor did Monday’s flake-filled skies and consistently wintry vibe seem to vanish as night and darkness drew on.

From Washington Post

Begins: As soon as enough snow has fallen to turn even the most mundane things into lovely wintry sculpture.

From The Daily Beast

December 13, cold and wet snow: the first day so wintry that Roland Moore rode out to his stock tank to break ice.

From The Daily Beast

Sequined dresses were shown with long, thigh-grazing sweaters in dark, wintry colors.

From The Daily Beast

The designer closed out the festivities with a bang—and served up dark, wintry clothes for spring amid piles of wreckage.

From The Daily Beast

The place looked pretty bleak in the pelting snow and final minutes of wintry gray light.

From The Daily Beast

She smiled back at him, a pale, timid smile, like a gleam of sunshine from a wintry sky.

From Project Gutenberg

Each day saw the wintry winds grow colder, and soon the ice upon Lake Luna was thick enough to bear.

From Project Gutenberg

Later had come lean and bitter years until finally his reputation dwindled like a gutted candle in a wintry room at midnight.

From Project Gutenberg

And then Lamb began to taste something like panic even as the first neon signs began to smear the wintry shadows.

From Project Gutenberg

Thick fog banks came sweeping past at intervals; a cold north-easterly gale conveyed a wintry feeling to the air.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bleak
• chilly
• desolate
• freezing
• frigid
• frosty
• frozen
• icy