blustery

American  

[bluhs-tuh-ree] / ˈblʌs tə ri /

Also blusterous

adjective

1. characterized by strong, gusty wind.

   It's a blustery day, with a stiff westerly whipping across the valley keeping the temperature on the cool side.

2. full of bravado and empty boasts, threats, or protests.

   Without these two arrogant, blustery leaders, the two sides would likely have solved their problems and worked things out.

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Other Word Forms

• unblusterous
  adjective
• blusterously
  adverb
• unblusterously
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of blustery

bluster ( def. ) + -y ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

Use the adjective blustery to describe weather that brings extremely strong gusts of wind. It's much easier to fly a kite on a blustery day than when there's no wind at all. While this word is frequently used for weather — think blustery October days with leaves blowing and people clutching their hats — it can also describe people who act aggressively or confidently but don't follow through. All that blustery talk about your football team's superiority won't mean a thing when they lose badly yet again. The source of blustery is the noun bluster, "loud or indignant talk with little effect," from a Germanic root meaning "blow violently."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blustery

Later on in the day and into the night, unseasonably blustery winds will develop across parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and northern England.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Only a true and blustery hero can string it, much as we believe that only Damon can win a knife fight by wielding a pen.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

Confining a world-famous pop star to a blustery old house in the English countryside for the entirety of a film seems inharmonious.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

Standing on the same blustery clifftop more than 40 years later, he says: "I have quite often thought about it but it was never found out who he was or what he was doing there."

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

It was a miserably wet, blustery day, with rain slanting down out of dark skies in torrents—no kind of day for standing out in the elements and watching a race.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• gusty
• howling
• turbulent
• windy