harmattan
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of harmattan
1665–75; said to be < Twi haramata
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.
We’ll have the silvery sea that is imperceptible from its upstairs neighbor, the sky — especially when the dry, dusty winds of the harmattan season are blowing.
From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2022
There is no horizon, just a haze of sand whipped up by the hot, harmattan winds blowing from the Sahara Desert.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 6, 2017
It was a cold and dry harmattan morning in December.
From Time • Nov. 16, 2016
I was walking to my uncle's house on a road baked and cracked by the harmattan.
From The Guardian • Apr. 19, 2013
The louvers, too, had been slipped off and the windows were gaping holes and the dry harmattan winds had blown in so much dust that the walls were now an even brown.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
