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sleet
[ sleet ]
/ slit /
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noun
precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls (distinguished from hail2).
Chiefly British. a mixture of rain and snow.
verb (used without object)
to send down sleet.
to fall as or like sleet.
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In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known asâŠ
Origin of sleet
1250â1300; (noun) Middle English slete; akin to Low German slote,German Schlossen hail; (v.) Middle English sleten, derivative of the noun
Words nearby sleet
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use sleet in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for sleet
sleet
/ (sliËt) /
noun
partly melted falling snow or hail or (esp US) partly frozen rain
mainly US the thin coat of ice that forms when sleet or rain freezes on cold surfaces
verb
(intr) to fall as sleet
Derived forms of sleet
sleety, adjectiveWord Origin for sleet
C13: from Germanic; compare Middle Low German slĆten hail, Middle High German slĆze, German Schlossen hailstones
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
Scientific definitions for sleet
sleet
[ slÄt ]
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.
The American HeritageÂź Science Dictionary
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