sleet

[ sleet ]

/ slit /

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See synonyms for: sleet / sleeted / sleeting on Thesaurus.com

noun

precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls (distinguished from hail²).

glaze (def. 17).

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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Origin of sleet

1250–1300; (noun) Middle English slete; akin to Low German slote,German Schlossen hail; (v.) Middle English sleten, derivative of the noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sleet in a sentence

Over the next hour or we could see some lingering snow and sleet pivot back through our northern and western areas but little or no additional accumulation is expected.
Sleet and snow pull away after midnight leaving behind falling temperatures and icy spots|Jason Samenow, Dan Stillman|December 17, 2020|Washington Post
Further north and west in Carroll, Frederick, Loudoun and northern Fauquier counties, and points north and west are where more significant accumulations of snow, sleet and freezing rain will make roads hazardous during the afternoon into evening.
Sleet and snow pull away after midnight leaving behind falling temperatures and icy spots|Jason Samenow, Dan Stillman|December 17, 2020|Washington Post
Melted snowflakes spend a longer time falling through subfreezing air, allowing them time to freeze into pellets of sleet.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess|Jeffrey Halverson|December 2, 2020|Washington Post
The deeper, colder part of the air mass was situated across the District’s northwestern suburbs, where 3 to 5 inches of snow accumulated, mixing with sleet.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess|Jeffrey Halverson|December 2, 2020|Washington Post

As much as 3 to 4 inches of sleet accumulated across a broad area.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess|Jeffrey Halverson|December 2, 2020|Washington Post
He bent his head to the sleeting blast and darted down the middle of the street to Second Avenue.
Flamsted quarries|Mary E. Waller
Muriel turned to look out of the window toward the town, but all that she could see was the grey, sleeting, wind-driven rain.
Rilla of the Lighthouse|Grace May North
It was an awful night, raining and sleeting—but he took no notice of the weather.
Heart and Science|Wilkie Collins
It had been sleeting and the pavements here and there were still icy.
Philip Dru: Administrator|Edward Mandell House
Blow this climate, it's always sleeting and raining in this rotten hole!
The Weird of the Wentworths, Vol. 2|Johannes Scotus

British Dictionary definitions for sleet

sleet

/ (sliːt) /

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, adjective

Word Origin for sleet

C13: from Germanic; compare Middle Low German slōten hail, Middle High German slōze, 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

[ slēt ]

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.

sleet

Origin of sleet

Words related to sleet

How to use sleet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sleet

Derived forms of sleet

Word Origin for sleet

Scientific definitions for sleet