downpour
Americannoun
-
downpours
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of downpour
Explanation
A downpour is a rainstorm, especially a very heavy one. If you get caught unexpectedly in a downpour, you'll wish you brought an umbrella. A downpour is exactly what it sounds like: torrential, pouring rain. A downpour, even one that's brief, can cause flooding in streets and basements. In some parts of the world, there are whole seasons that regularly bring downpours, while other places experience droughts so severe that people wish for a downpour. The word has been in use since the mid-19th century.
Vocabulary lists containing downpour
Water Hazard: Words for Too Much Moisture
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Raining Cats and Dogs
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Floods, landslides and accidents driven by a nine-day downpour equivalent to more than a month's worth of rain in some areas have killed at least 13 people in the northern Philippines, rescuers said Monday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The gray skies part, the clouds lift and a warm maternal comfort spreads across the film, creeping in like the sun’s rays falling on cobblestones still shining from a sudden downpour.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
But French fans, despite their tricolore turnouts up and down the East Coast, became even grumpier during their win over Iraq after enduring a lengthy delay and biblical downpour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Loren Becker, a semi-retired registered nurse, had ducked into the Black Goose coffee shop in Union, Kentucky, to escape a downpour on Saturday morning.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
By the time I reached the children’s home, what had begun as a drizzle was a full-on downpour.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
The torrential downpours late Thursday triggered landslide warnings and power outages, with forecasters issuing the highest-level heavy rain warning for the Chiba region for the first time.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
In Taiwan, dozens of ferry services were suspended and more than 180 flights were cancelled as the storm brought downpours and strong winds to the island's north on Sunday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Most of the downpours may be over the near continent as high pressure is forecast to build back across the UK next weekend from the Atlantic.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
"The heat near the ground has been forced up into the freezing layers of the troposphere, cooling rapidly and creating giant cumulonimbus clouds and thundery downpours."
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
The rainy season had started, and though it was only drizzling now, in the days ahead, we’d face many downpours.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
