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pluvial

American  
[ploo-vee-uhl] / ˈplu vi əl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to rain, especially much rain; rainy.

  2. Geology. occurring through the action of rain.

noun

  1. Geology. a rainy period formerly regarded as coeval with a glacial age, but now recognized as episodic and, in the tropics, as characteristic of interglacial ages.

pluvial British  
/ ˈpluːvɪəl /

adjective

  1. of, characterized by, or due to the action of rain; rainy

    pluvial insurance
"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

noun

  1. geology of or relating to rainfall or precipitation

  2. a climate characterized by persistent heavy rainfall, esp one occurring in unglaciated regions during the Pleistocene epoch

"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
pluvial Scientific  
/ plo̅o̅′vē-əl /

  1. Relating to or caused by rain.

Other Word Forms

  • interpluvial adjective

Etymology

Origin of pluvial

1650–60; < Latin pluviālis, equivalent to pluvi ( a ) rain + -ālis -al 1

Explanation

The word pluvial is used in science to describe anything related to rain. A geologist might refer to a lake formed by ancient downpours as a pluvial lake. Pluvial comes from the Latin word pluvia, meaning "rain." As a noun, it refers to a long stretch of Earth's history when certain regions received much more rainfall than they do today, creating massive lakes in what might now be deserts. Geologist study such ancient pluvial periods to understand climate shifts. Today, a meteorologist might refer to a season with abundant rainfall as a pluvial season. A rainforest has a pluvial climate. The word pluvial has the same root as pluvimeter, the technical name for a rain gauge.

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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.

There has also been pluvial - or surface water - flooding, which is a direct result of intense or prolonged rainfall that overwhelms drainage systems.

From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026

Averaged out at the global scale, the team found that 15.46% of all meteorological droughts were succeeded by a pluvial the following season.

From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024

The flash flooding—experts call it pluvial flooding—that hit Zhengzhou, in contrast, showed how quickly torrential downpours can turn deadly in a densely packed modern city.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 29, 2021

Due to less evaporation and more precipitation, many large lakes formed in the basins of the Basin and Range Province called pluvial lakes.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Toward the end of August the pluvial god, assisted by the physical characteristics of the region, provided us with a genuine sensation.

From Lippincott's Magazine, October 1885 by Various

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.