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• snow
  snow

  noun

  precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.
• Snow
  Snow

  noun

  Sir Charles Percy C. P. Snow, 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

snow

¹ American  

[snoh] / snoʊ /

noun

• snow
  plural

1. Meteorology. precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air.

2. these flakes as forming a layer on the ground or other surface.

3. the fall of these flakes or a storm during which these flakes fall.

4. something resembling a layer of these flakes in whiteness, softness, or the like.

   the snow of fresh linen.

5. Literary.

   1. white blossoms.

   2. the white color of snow.

6. Slang. cocaine or heroin.

7. Informal. Usually snows snow tires.

   Most people up here keep their snows on through the end of April.

8. white spots or bands on a television screen caused by a weak signal.

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verb (used without object)

• snows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• snowed,
  past participle,  past
• snowing
  present participle

1. to send down snow; fall as snow.

2. to descend like snow.

verb (used with object)

• snows,
  present (3rd person singular)
• snowed,
  past participle,  past
• snowing
  present participle

1. to let fall as or like snow.

2. Slang.

   1. to make an overwhelming impression on.

      The view really snowed them.

   2. to persuade or deceive.

      She was snowed into believing everything.

verb phrase

1. snow under

   1. to cover with or bury in snow.

   2. to overwhelm with a larger amount of something than can be conveniently dealt with.

   3. to defeat overwhelmingly.

Snow ² American  

[snoh] / snoʊ /

noun

1. Sir Charles Percy C. P. Snow, 1905–80, English novelist and scientist.

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Snow ¹ British  

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. C ( harles ) P ( ercy ), Baron. 1905–80, British novelist and physicist. His novels include the series Strangers and Brothers (1949–70)

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snow ² British  

/ snəʊ /

noun

1. precipitation from clouds in the form of flakes of ice crystals formed in the upper atmosphere

2. a layer of snowflakes on the ground

3. a fall of such precipitation

4. anything resembling snow in whiteness, softness, etc

5. the random pattern of white spots on a television or radar screen, produced by noise in the receiver and occurring when the signal is weak or absent

6. slang cocaine

7. See carbon dioxide snow

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verb

1. (intr; with it as subject) to be the case that snow is falling

2. (tr; usually passive, foll by over, under, in, or up) to cover or confine with a heavy fall of snow

3. to fall or cause to fall as or like snow

4. slang (tr) to deceive or overwhelm with elaborate often insincere talk See snow job

5. to be overwhelmed, esp with paperwork

snow Scientific  

/ snō /

1. Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of ice crystals that have complex branched hexagonal patterns. Snow usually falls from stratus and stratocumulus clouds, but it can also fall from cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.

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snow Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing snow

• pure as the driven snow

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• snowless
  adjective
• snowlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• snow
  plural

Participles

• snowing
  present
• snowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• snow
  simple
• snows
  simple
• have snowed
  perfect
• has snowed
  perfect
• am snowing
  progressive
• are snowing
  progressive
• is snowing
  progressive
• have been snowing
  perfect progressive
• has been snowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• snowed
  simple
• had snowed
  perfect
• was snowing
  progressive
• were snowing
  progressive
• had been snowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will snow
  simple
• will have snowed
  perfect
• will be snowing
  progressive
• will have been snowing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of snow¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun snou(e), Old English snāw; cognate with Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snǣr, Gothic snaiws, Latin nix (genitive nivis ), Greek níps (accusative nípha ), Old Church Slavonic sněgŭ; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of Snow²

First recorded in 1665–75

Explanation

The fluffy white precipitation that falls from the sky in the winter is snow. Many winter sports, like skiing and sledding, require snow. Scientifically, snow is water vapor that freezes and forms ice crystals. You probably think of snow as the cold white stuff that can be formed into balls and thrown. Snow is a verb, too: "I love to watch it snow." Informally, to snow is also to hide your motives in order to trick someone: "She planned to snow her sister into thinking the cookies were all gone."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snow Snow snows snowed snowing

Soot deposited on snow and ice absorbs more sunlight and accelerates melting.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Friends are welcome to send mittens, ski caps and hot soup when the snow comes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

With every step farther into “the pile,” what rescue workers came to call the smoldering mass of debris, a coating of white powder got thicker and deeper—like snow that wasn’t snow, my father recalls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

You live in a diesel snow globe, and somebody just shook it.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026

The snow came, as it has today, and of course little Karli loved that.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo

“What was once a 1-in-500 or 1-in-1,000 chance, it was now a 1-in-100 or a 1-in-75 chance,” Snow said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

Nina Snow, the novel’s heroine and conscience, is scarred by the Bosnian wars of the 1990s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Best known for playing Jon Snow for eight seasons in the award-winning series Game of Thrones, Harington also appears in the BBC and HBO financial drama Industry.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

Although he didn’t play high school football, Devey played two seasons at Snow College in Utah before transferring to the University of Memphis, the Deseret News reported.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

Snow slid off the branch and fell with a soft plop.

From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

"It's like when the first snows come. It's a tenderness, but there's a rawness to it as well."

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

“Through all the attacks from ravens and rival eagles, through hard winds, cold and heavy snows, Jackie and Shadow protected and provided for their eaglets,” said Iowa’s Tami Schmeisser.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

When it snows, for example, the city plows the streets, but property owners sometimes must clear the sidewalks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

Or as in the Northeast today, when it snows it blizzards.

From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026

The season of snows was preferred, that I might experience the pleasure of suffering, and the novelty of danger.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

It had snowed seven inches the night before I decided to get gravy bread again — the most snow O’Hare had seen in a single day in decades.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025

Although it snowed in Cleveland and Chicago this week and New Yorkers bundled up, gas traders don’t expect enough sustained cold weather to eat into supplies until next month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

At some points during the storm, it even snowed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025

A few years later, in a famous game between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton, it snowed and left the pitch as something of a lottery.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2025

It snowed hard in the night, a foot of powdery crystals.

From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell

Lime also faces a seasonal risk: Put simply, scooters and bikes are a lot less popular when its snowing or raining, and more in demand when it’s warm and dry outside.

From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026

In other words, Rakoff isn’t a judge you should try snowing with technological flapdoodle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026

"I came to a locker room and I was excited. I saw it was snowing, and I was like 'it's gonna be a good day'," he said.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025

"I was struck by the fact that it's constantly snowing, as if Russia has only one season. In reality, we have all four."

From BBC ● May 2, 2025

It was dark out, and snowing harder than before, but he could see a few meters in every direction.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Related Words

• blizzard
• snowstorm