winter
Americannoun
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winters
plural
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the cold season between autumn and spring in northern latitudes (in the Northern Hemisphere from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox; in the Southern Hemisphere from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox).
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the months of December, January, and February in the U.S., and of November, December, and January in Great Britain.
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cold weather.
a touch of winter in northern Florida.
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the colder half of the year (opposed to summer).
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a whole year as represented by this season.
a man of sixty winters.
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a period like winter, as the last or final period of life; a period of decline, decay, inertia, dreariness, or adversity.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of winter.
a winter sunset.
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(of fruit and vegetables) of a kind that may be kept for use during the winter.
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planted in the autumn to be harvested in the spring or early summer.
winter rye.
verb (used without object)
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winters,
present (3rd person singular)
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wintered,
past participle, past
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wintering
present participle
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to spend or pass the winter.
to winter in Italy.
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to keep, feed, or manage during the winter, as plants or cattle.
plants wintering indoors.
noun
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(sometimes capital) the coldest season of the year, between autumn and spring, astronomically from the December solstice to the March equinox in the N hemisphere and at the opposite time of year in the S hemisphere
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( as modifier )
winter pasture
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the period of cold weather associated with the winter
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a time of decline, decay, etc
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poetic a year represented by this season
a man of 72 winters
verb
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(intr) to spend the winter in a specified place
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to keep or feed (farm animals, etc) during the winter or (of farm animals) to be kept or fed during the winter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wintersimple
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winterssimple
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have winteredperfect
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has winteredperfect
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am winteringprogressive
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are winteringprogressive
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is winteringprogressive
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have been winteringperfect progressive
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has been winteringperfect progressive
Past
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winteredsimple
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had winteredperfect
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was winteringprogressive
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were winteringprogressive
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had been winteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of winter
before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with German Winter, Old Norse vetr, Gothic wintrus; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun; akin to wet, water
Explanation
Winter is the coldest season of the year, often bringing snow, shorter days, longer nights, and cloudy gray skies. The word winter describes the season when temperatures drop, and the days grow shorter. It’s a time when nature slows down — trees lose their leaves, animals hibernate, and people bundle up in warm clothes. In some places, winter means snow-covered landscapes, snowball fights, and cozy nights spent by a warm fire, while in others, it might simply mean cooler weather than usual.
Vocabulary lists containing winter
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:
The icebreakers will be used to open winter shipping routes through Canada's northern and Atlantic waters.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Every year, California gets hit with those highest high tides roughly around the summer and winter solstices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
“The harder the winter becomes, the greater the pressure on these carriers to reduce capacity, close routes or accept further financial strain,” Dwyer says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
"We tried to keep our non-tipping model simply by raising our menu prices 23%, but we were only able to sustain this through the winter months," says co-owner Danielle Ayer.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
And we were barefoot, as we were all winter in our memories later.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
We also plan to purchase a $200,000 condo in Florida next year—after enough New England winters, we’re ready for a change.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Nearly six in 10 Canadians bought a home in Florida, which offers a warm and sunny respite from harsh Canadian winters, the NAR report found.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Warmer winters and shifts in land use have brought the bugs into new territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Many who took up the offer have since moved back -- put-off by harsh winters and low wages.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Typically, his walks had no destination: To him they were akin to meditation—a chance to think without thinking—and he rambled about even during the bitterly cold winters.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
A particularly steep downturn began in the winter of 2018, when about 30,000 monarch butterflies wintered in California, according to Emma Pelton, a monarch conservation biologist with the Xerces Society.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
The couple has wintered in Arizona and returned to Washington in time for the opening of the Sounders season since 2009, the year the club joined MLS.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
In the classic migration pattern, flocks that wintered in the southern U.S. fly north in the spring, returning to the same spots in the high and sub-Arctic to breed and nest.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 16, 2020
The social pages followed his comings and goings, when he summered in Bar Harbor and wintered in Boca Raton.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 19, 2019
There rabbits and ptarmigan gathered to eat seeds out of the wind, and moose wintered on the twigs of the willows.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
After spending the summer in the Hamptons, Icahn is wintering at his house on the Miami-area island known as Billionaire Bunker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
The species is considered territorial and doesn’t mix well with other wintering birds, according to Fish and Wildlife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2025
NRW fitted 15 curlew in Wales with GPS tags in 2022, giving researchers a real-time view of their migration from across Europe to important breeding and wintering areas in Wales.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2024
This study found that colonies wintering outside in colder areas like Omak in the far north of Washington state might still do all right under climate change.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024
And then she said to the children, “Brightbill must soon lead his flock back to their wintering grounds. However, he can return here in the spring.”
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
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.
