monsoon
Americannoun
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monsoons
plural
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the seasonal wind of the Indian Ocean and southern Asia, blowing from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter.
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(in India and nearby lands) the season during which the southwest monsoon blows, commonly marked by heavy rains; rainy season.
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any wind that changes directions with the seasons.
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any persistent wind established between water and adjoining land.
noun
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a seasonal wind of S Asia that blows from the southwest in summer, bringing heavy rains, and from the northeast in winter
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the rainy season when the SW monsoon blows, from about April to October
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any wind that changes direction with the seasons
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A system of winds that influences the climate of a large area and that reverses direction with the seasons. Monsoons are caused primarily by the much greater annual variation in temperature over large areas of land than over large areas of adjacent ocean water. This variation causes an excess of atmospheric pressure over the continents in the winter, and a deficit in the summer. The disparity causes strong winds to blow between the ocean and the land, bringing heavy seasonal rainfall.
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In southern Asia, a wind that is part of such a system and that blows from the southwest in the summer and usually brings heavy rains.
Discover More
The Asiatic monsoon brings heavy rains to Southeast Asia in spring and summer.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of monsoon
First recorded in 1575–85; from obsolete Dutch monssoen, from Portuguese monção, earlier moução, from Arabic mawsim “season,” noun derivative of wasama “to mark”; cf. mazuma ( def. ), Sivan ( def. )
Explanation
Monsoon is the term for the wind that carries heavy rains to southern Asia, and the rains themselves. During a monsoon, people wait indoors for it to stop. Although people in other parts of the world sometimes describe heavy rainfall as a monsoon, the real thing only occurs in Asia. Monsoon describes both the rain that drenches India and Southeast Asia in summer and winter, and the wind that carries that rain. The rains are so heavy that they can lead to floods that wash away entire towns.
Vocabulary lists containing monsoon
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Physical Geography - Introductory
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Weather and Climate - Introductory
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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:
There is growing evidence that weather patterns around the world are already being affected, with below-average monsoon rains in India and suppressed hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
For example, in El Niño years the southwest monsoon can deliver suppressed rainfall in South Asia - and so far in 2026 it is running well below normal.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains have killed more than 100 people across India since July, official data showed Wednesday, with thousands forced to flee their inundated homes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
India's monsoon is running well below average, while hotter and drier conditions are forecast from Central America and the Caribbean to parts of South America, South Asia, the Southwest Pacific, Europe and Africa.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
It poured rain on Monday—like the monsoon rains in India I read about in Hardy T. Lang's book.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
This includes drought across parts of the Amazon, Indonesia and Australia, disrupted monsoons in India, and shifting rainfall throughout the tropics.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
As the monsoon monsoons, our lights and cameras are hastily scooped up and moved into the beautiful Victorian kitchen of nearby Kenwood House.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
The tech company has been helping farmers in India monitor the threat of monsoons through its open-source AI model to provide granular forecasting data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Ocean-derived moisture can travel across continents within large weather systems including atmospheric rivers, monsoons and tropical storms.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 12, 2025
And he had blood-red nails and a brown leaf on his back that made the monsoons come on time.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
