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Synonyms

wintry

American  
[win-tree] / ˈwɪn tri /
Also wintery

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 British  
/ ˈwɪntərɪ, -trɪ, ˈwɪntrɪ /

adjective

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

  2. lacking cheer or warmth; bleak

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • unwintry adjective
  • wintrily adverb
  • wintriness noun

Etymology

Origin of wintry

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

Explanation

If it makes you think of winter, it's wintry. Use the adjective wintry to describe a cold, gray January day. The adjective wintry is sometimes spelled wintery. Either way, it describes something that happens in the winter time, or that reminds you of winter in some way. A photograph of your uncle's snow-covered Christmas tree farm shows a wintry scene, and a blustery wind on a February morning will feel wintry. It can also describe a person who is emotionally cool or unfriendly: "Her greeting was wintry, and she refused to shake my hand."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing wintry

Chill Out! Synonyms for "Cold"

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Cold

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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.

The government has credited wintry weather with a recent lull in the disease.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Francesco's screen time can sometimes tip over the hour mark, Sam says, especially on wintry weekends, but argues that is not necessarily a bad thing.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

While there will be some sunshine there will also be showers - which could even turn wintry over hills in the north of the UK.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

Combined with some wintry showers and snow over higher ground, it felt like winter had made a return.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

Turner went in, slowly, warily, feeling about as eager to go in as black molasses to flow on a wintry day.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

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.