sleet
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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sleets,
present (3rd person singular)
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sleeted,
past participle, past
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sleeting
present participle
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to send down sleet.
-
to fall as or like sleet.
noun
-
partly melted falling snow or hail or (esp US) partly frozen rain
-
the thin coat of ice that forms when sleet or rain freezes on cold surfaces
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sleetsimple
-
sleetssimple
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have sleetedperfect
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has sleetedperfect
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am sleetingprogressive
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are sleetingprogressive
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is sleetingprogressive
-
have been sleetingperfect progressive
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has been sleetingperfect progressive
Past
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sleetedsimple
-
had sleetedperfect
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was sleetingprogressive
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were sleetingprogressive
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had been sleetingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing sleet
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Weather and Climate - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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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:
River’s constantly tilted forward, against rain, sleet and wind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Strong northerly winds will sweep across the country, bringing blustery showers of rain, sleet, and hail, with snow over higher ground.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
Meteorologists said to expect heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
The storm is expected to bring widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain to parts of the South on Friday and then spread eastward over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 22, 2026
He looked out over the flock, saw that they were huddled together, heads hunched low, out of the sleet.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
The heavens have emptied their sleets and snows on his head,—these have made him look only purer, only the more sublime.
From The Choir Invisible by James Lane Allen
Child of Light, the bright, the bird-like! wilt thou float and float to me, Facing winds and sleets and waters, flying glimpses of the sea?
From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Henry Kendall
From January's start to close It rains or hails or sleets or snows.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, April 11, 1917 by Various
As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, And winter oft, at eve, resumes the breeze, Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets Deform the day delightful:---- Thomson.
From The Headsman The Abbaye des Vignerons by James Fenimore Cooper
Now in the hearth he sits and, drowned Among the ashes, blows; Or through the room goes stealing round On cautious-creeping toes, Deep-mantled in the drowsy sound Of night that sleets and snows.
From Poems by Madison Julius Cawein
It sleeted all morning, but the sun came out for the march.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 21, 2017
“You’re being rained on and snowed on and sleeted on all day long. It makes for misery.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2014
Sweated, froze, got sleeted on, rained on, snowed on, and never saw a deer.
From Time Magazine Archive
And what could be prettier, he said, than the woods after it sleeted all night, and hoar frost finished the job!
From Old Caravan Days by Mary Hartwell Catherwood
Sad Mayflower I watched by winter stars, And nursed by winter gales, With petals of the sleeted spars, And leaves of frozen sails!
From Wild Flowers An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors by Neltje Blanchan
The temperature was little above freezing and it was sleeting, members of the team said at the time.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2023
Also, aside from anecdotal evidence of short-lived sleeting in the western suburbs, there was no ice, snow or other frozen precipitation.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2022
On Parliament Hill, the sleeting rain that had drenched Ottawa much of the day turned to snow, and defiant protesters remained in the streets, some of them dancing.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2022
“It was raining, sleeting and snowing and I was out getting feed,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 9, 2015
And now it was sleeting, the snow already glistening with ice.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
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