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:
He posted photos on X showing one home with its roof torn off and another missing roof shingles, as well as an image of a baseball-sized hailstone.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
"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
A person holds up a hailstone during a hailstorm in Girona, Spain August 30, 2022.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2022
The sky hurled hailstone after hailstone onto my field.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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
That's the reason we publish more content explaining the physics of the aurora borealis, or why climate change is leading to bigger hailstones.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
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
All sound like the stuff of fun games — except when they are used to describe the size of the hailstones that often accompany severe thunderstorms.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
The dogs leaned down to eat the hailstones.
From "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan
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.
