adjective
-
covered with or abounding in snow
snowy hills
-
characterized by snow
snowy weather
-
resembling snow in whiteness, purity, etc
Other Word Forms
- snowily adverb
- snowiness noun
Etymology
Origin of snowy
before 1000; Middle English snawy, Old English snāwig. See snow, -y 1
Explanation
Snowy things are covered with snow or resemble snow—like snowy rooftops in the winter or your grandpa's snowy beard that makes him look like Santa Claus. You can use snowy to describe the hills and fields in Vermont during your January visit, and also when you talk about the weather: "Next week looks snowy, but it's going to warm up after that." Things that are the brilliant white color of fresh snow are also snowy, like a swan's snowy feathers or your neighbor's snowy wall-to-wall carpet that you're not allowed to walk on.
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.
Steinfeld announced she and Allen were expecting their first child in a Substack post in December, sharing photos from a snowy, bump-revealing maternity shoot.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2026
In a new study, scientists at Northwestern University investigated how these small, wingless insects, which move across snowy surfaces to find mates and lay eggs, stay alive in freezing conditions.
From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2026
By then I was in the freezing, snowy mountains in the Kurdish north.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026
TELLURIDE, Colo.—On a snowy March evening last year, a local official stepped to the microphone to declare that this winter ski paradise was in crisis.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
“We’ll call Uncle Solly from the general store,” Mom said, spreading out a tarp over the snowy ground.
From "I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964" by Lauren Tarshis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
