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Synonyms

sleet

American  
[sleet] / slit /

noun

  1. precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls (hail ).

  2. glaze.

  3. Chiefly British. a mixture of rain and snow.

verb (used without object)

  1. to send down sleet.

  2. to fall as or like sleet.

sleet British  
/ sliːt /

noun

  1. partly melted falling snow or hail or (esp US) partly frozen rain

  2. the thin coat of ice that forms when sleet or rain freezes on cold surfaces

"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

verb

  1. (intr) to fall as sleet

"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
sleet Scientific  
/ slēt /

  1. Precipitation that falls to earth in the form of frozen or partially frozen raindrops, often when the temperature is near the freezing point. Sleet usually leaves the cloud in the form of snow that melts as it passes through warm layers of air during its descent. The raindrops and partially melted snowflakes then freeze in the colder layers nearer the earth before striking the ground as pellets of ice, which usually bounce. By contrast, hail forms by the accumulation of layers of ice on the hailstone as it moves up and down in the cloud, and hailstones can become much larger than sleet pellets. The word sleet is also used informally to describe a mixture of snow, sleet, and rain.

Other Word Forms

  • sleety adjective

Etymology

Origin of sleet

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English slete; akin to Low German slote, German Schlossen “hail”; (for the verb) Middle English sleten, derivative of the noun

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.

Kirsteen said showers and cold air were a "perfect recipe" for sleet and snow.

From BBC

Strong northerly winds will sweep across the country, bringing blustery showers of rain, sleet, and hail, with snow over higher ground.

From BBC

Stronger winds will bring wintry showers of sleet and snow over high ground in the north of the UK with the chance of accumulating snow on some hills and mountains.

From BBC

The sleet piled up and hid the trail.

From Literature

Rain and sleet tapped against my window, but now that I was inside, bundled up under a mountain of blankets, I didn’t mind it.

From Literature

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.