heat wave
Americannoun
-
a period of abnormally hot and usually humid weather; heat event.
I moved to the coast up north because summer back home has become one long, unbearable heat wave.
-
an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly.
Another heat wave is expected to form across the South and into the Northeast by week’s end.
noun
-
a continuous spell of abnormally hot weather
-
(not in technical use) an extensive slow-moving air mass at a relatively high temperature
Etymology
Origin of heat wave
First recorded in 1875–80
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.
People have been urged to take precautions near water after at least eight people, mostly children, drowned over the bank holiday weekend while trying to stay cool during the heat wave.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
U.S. natural gas futures settled lower, snapping a five-session winning streak as the heat wave across the eastern U.S. is set to fade ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
The county is seeking more than $50 billion in damages for a heat wave.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
The current marine heat wave technically began in May 2025, shrank as expected last fall, but then did not recede back from the coast and remained off Southern California, Leising said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026
And yet even as he embraced that bleak understanding, on this, the worst day of the winter, he recalled something he’d seen on the worst day of the worst heat wave of the summer.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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.
