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hailstone

American  
[heyl-stohn] / ˈheɪlˌstoʊn /

noun

hailstones plural
  1. a pellet of hail.


hailstone British  
/ ˈheɪlˌstəʊn /

noun

  1. a pellet of hail

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

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:

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

A 20-month-old child has died in Spain after being struck on the head by a hailstone.

From BBC Aug. 31, 2022

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

Grinning, he gathered in one sweep all the mucus in his flaring nostrils and let fly a blob as thick as a hailstone.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

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

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

“That’s ridiculous! This is summertime. You don’t have hailstones in summertime.”

From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl

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