whiteout

[hwahyt-out, wahyt-]

noun

1. Meteorology.

   1. a condition, found in polar regions, in which uniform illumination from snow on the ground and from a low cloud layer makes features of the landscape indistinguishable.

   2. a condition of heavily falling or blowing snow in which visibility is very poor.

2. an act or instance of whiting out with a correction fluid.

3. a white correction fluid used for this.

   a bottle of whiteout.

4. a mistake, as in typing, that has been whited out with a correction fluid.

Word History and Origins

Origin of whiteout¹

1940–45; whiteout ( defs. 2, 3, 4 ) noun use of verb phrase white out; whiteout ( def. 1 ) white + (black)out

Example Sentences

By Tuesday afternoon, many of the mountain cameras across the Golden State maintained by UC San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia camera network showed whiteout conditions.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Monday morning, after a weekend of snowsquall and whiteout conditions, the crew unloaded the cargo.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The family was traveling in the area during a winter storm that brought heavy snow and whiteout conditions to northern Arizona.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The weather could bring whiteout conditions that will make travel difficult, according to NOAA.

Read more on BBC

Considering the whiteouts in past years, this represents growth.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• gale 
• precipitation 
• squall