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

Considering the whiteouts in past years, this represents growth.

From Salon

Debt is a theme running through Season 5 of “Fargo,” and there was no more terrifying bill collector in Noah Hawley’s latest seriocomic venture into the dark whiteout of the Upper Midwest than Ole Munch.

From Los Angeles Times

About 90 minutes into the day’s march across the ice cap, whiteout conditions and howling winds bear down on them, zapping all visibility and prompting a pointed back-and-forth.

From New York Times

The massive storm shuttered Highway 395 from Southern California to Mammoth Mountain and Interstate 80 to the northern Lake Tahoe area for much of the weekend because of whiteout conditions.

From Los Angeles Times

With whiteout conditions in the mountains, ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area paused operations.

From New York Times

Related Words

• gale
• precipitation
• squall