hailstone
Americannoun
-
hailstones
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hailstone
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hagolstān. See hail 2, stone
Vocabulary lists containing hailstone
Weather and Climate - Introductory
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Weather and Climate - Middle School
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Earth Science - Middle School
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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:
"These things do sometimes happen, something may have struck the window, for example a bird, a large hailstone, it's not unheard of".
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2024
A person holds up a hailstone during a hailstorm in Girona, Spain August 30, 2022.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2022
The current world record for a hailstone is 8 inches across, or about the size of a volleyball.
From Fox News ● May 5, 2020
AL.com cites a release from state climatologist Dr. John Christy that says a hailstone that fell March 19 in Cullman County is the largest on record in the state.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2018
A large hailstone can hurt you as much as a rock or a lump of lead if it is thrown hard enough—and my goodness, how those Cloud-Men could throw!
From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
Videos shared from across the region showed streets overwhelmed by rain and hailstones falling heavily in a matter of minutes.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
On Monday night, hailstones piled up in doorways, making it impossible to open them and creating dams that pushed rainwater into buildings, he said.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center show 5,879 reports of hailstones of one inch or larger in 2022, up 17 percent from 5,020 in 2021.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
Dozens of people on the island were evacuated to hotels overnight on Wednesday and locals were also hit by huge hailstones "bigger than golf balls".
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2023
“You must learn to be careful,” Puli said severely, while stones and earth still rained down on us like hailstones.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
