sleet

American  

[sleet] / slit /

noun

1. precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls (hail ).

2. glaze.

3. Chiefly British. a mixture of rain and snow.

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verb (used without object)

1. to send down sleet.

2. to fall as or like sleet.

sleet British  

/ sliːt /

noun

1. partly melted falling snow or hail or (esp US) partly frozen rain

2. the thin coat of ice that forms when sleet or rain freezes on cold surfaces

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verb

1. (intr) to fall as sleet

sleet Scientific  

/ slēt /

1. Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of frozen or partially frozen raindrops, often when the temperature is near the freezing point. Sleet usually leaves the cloud in the form of snow that melts as it passes through warm layers of air during its descent. The raindrops and partially melted snowflakes then freeze in the colder layers nearer the earth before striking the ground as pellets of ice, which usually bounce. By contrast, hail forms by the accumulation of layers of ice on the hailstone as it moves up and down in the cloud, and hailstones can become much larger than sleet pellets. The word sleet is also used informally to describe a mixture of snow, sleet, and rain.

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Other Word Forms

• sleety adjective

Etymology

Origin of sleet

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English slete; akin to Low German slote, German Schlossen “hail”; (for the verb) Middle English sleten, derivative of the noun

Explanation

Frozen rain, or melty snow, is called sleet. Walking in the snow can be lovely, but walking in sleet is just cold and unpleasant. Sleet is a type of precipitation, and it's also a verb: "Is it starting to sleet out there? Let's stay in and watch TV tonight." In the U.S., sleet is the name for small ice pellets—if you've ever heard the weather person talk about a "wintry mix," it usually includes sleet along with snow and freezing rain. The word dates from the very early 14th century, from a Germanic root.

Example Sentences

The snow which had hammered down all day in the Dolomites had turned to sleet by the time the four matches started in front of a healthy crowd inside the 3,500-capacity arena.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

A massive winter storm continues to hit large parts of the country, dumping snow, sleet and freezing rain and leaving hundreds of thousands without power in the South.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2026

Meteorologists said to expect heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026

“The system will produce a significant, long-duration winter storm, with widespread heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain,” the National Weather Service said Friday morning.

From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026

Tonks had appeared out of nowhere, her mousy hair wet with sleet.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• deluge
• drizzle
• flood
• hail
• mist
• monsoon
• precipitation
• rainfall
• rainstorm
• shower
• showers
• stream
• torrent