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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Weather and Climate - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Earth Science - Middle School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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
That is, the hailstone Mr. Scott collected in 2010, which measured eight inches across and weighed nearly two pounds, was no longer the largest ever recorded.
From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2022
The record is now an official entry in the World Weather & Climate Extremes Archive, a sort of Guinness World Records for weather that also includes the heaviest hailstone and longest lightening flash.
From Reuters ● Dec. 14, 2021
The current world record for a hailstone is 8 inches across, or about the size of a volleyball.
From Fox News ● May 5, 2020
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
A camping and caravan park at Dornoch in the Highlands faced flash flooding and large hailstones, while flights at Edinburgh Airport have been disrupted.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 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
Those hailstones can cause significant damage to homes and cars, a growing worry as warming temperatures fuel more destructive storms.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
Residents in parts of New South Wales and South Australia were shocked to find hailstones the size of golf balls blanketing their lawns in summer.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2023
“Lord, some them hailstones was big as teacups and weighed a pound,” Cudn Hope said, sitting down again.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
