wintry

Also win·ter·y

[win-tree]

adjective

wintrier, wintriest 

1. of or characteristic of winter: wintry skies.

   wintry blasts;

   wintry skies.

2. resembling winter weather; having snow, frost, cold, storms, etc..

   We had wintry weather well into May last year.

3. suggestive of winter, as in lack of warmth or cheer.

   a wintry manner.

   Synonyms: cheerless, bleak, cold

wintry

/ ˈwɪntərɪ, -trɪ, ˈwɪntrɪ /

adjective

1. (esp of weather) of or characteristic of winter

2. lacking cheer or warmth; bleak

Other Word Forms

• wintrily adverb
• wintriness noun
• unwintry adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wintry¹

First recorded before 900; Old English wintrig (not recorded in Middle English ); winter, -y ¹

Example Sentences

The humor is self-deprecating, the setting international, the weather wintry, the company good.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The robot started slowly through that wintry world, but as she found her footing, the sounds of her crunching steps grew quick and steady.

Read more on Literature

The novel reads like a wintry elegy to the once proud cad.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

After the women opened the season on Saturday with their giant slalom on the Austrian glacier, the men battled poor visibility and welcome wintry weather in their traditional curtain raiser.

Read more on Barron's

This coincides with the end of British Summer Time as the clocks go back with the weather reflecting the shift towards a more wintry feel.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• bleak 
• chilly 
• desolate 
• freezing 
• frigid 
• frosty 
• frozen 
• icy