What does "drizzle" mean?
Light rain.
Drizzle
/ˈdɹɪz.l/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Light rain.
- Grammar: drizzle is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: mizzle, allocate, blood rain, constant drizzle.
- Useful contrasts: heavy precipitation, avalanches, buckets.
- Usage evidence: A quarrel between husband and wife is like a spring day's drizzle.
How to use "drizzle"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "drizzle" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "drizzle" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "drizzle" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "drizzle" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "drizzle" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "mizzle" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "drizzle", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Light rain. countable, uncountable
"Up here, it's a 'dreich' day with steady drizzle. Deep drainage channels either side of the track are already more like streams: Rannoch Moor is a wet place."
- 2 very light rain; stronger than mist but less than a shower wordnet
- 3 Very small, numerous, and uniformly dispersed water drops, mist, or sprinkle. Unlike fog droplets, drizzle falls to the ground. countable, uncountable
"No longer pouring, the rain outside slowed down to a faint drizzle."
- 4 Water. countable, slang, uncountable
"Stop drinking all of my drizzle!"
- 5 A cake onto which icing, honey or syrup has been drizzled in an artistic manner. countable, uncountable
"April 19, 2013,Felicity Cloake, "How to Cook the Perfect Lemon Drizzle Cake" in The Guardian Drizzle is not normally good news. Not when it's falling from the sky, not when it's replacing a decent helping of sauce, and especially not when it's found on a menu in close proximity to the words "balsamic vinegar". Deliciously sticky, sweet and sour lemon drizzle cake is the one, and very honourable, exception."
Verb
- 1 To rain lightly. impersonal
"We had planned a picnic for Joe's birthday, but it ended up drizzling all day."
- 2 moisten with fine drops wordnet
- 3 To shed slowly in minute drops or particles. ambitransitive
"And from mine eyes the drizling teares descend, As on your boughes the ysicles depend."
- 4 rain lightly wordnet
- 5 To pour slowly and evenly, especially oil or honey in cooking. transitive
"The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle olive oil on it."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To cover by pouring in this manner. transitive
"The recipe says to toss the salad and then drizzle it in olive oil."
- 7 To urinate. slang
"She'll be right back, had to drizzle before we leave."
- 8 To carry out parfilage, the process of unravelling. dated
"She found that all those ladies who did not play at cards occupied their fingers with parfilage.[...] Here, the work was called drizzling. Ladies begged their friends to give them pieces of the gold lace used on uniforms and the gold tassels of sword-belts, they picked out the metal threads, and by selling these they realised considerable sums. Prince Leopold himself drizzled continually[...]"
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"A quarrel between husband and wife is like a spring day's drizzle."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "drizzle"?
Common synonyms include: mizzle, allocate, blood rain, constant drizzle, dashes, disperse.
How do you use "drizzle" in a sentence?
A quarrel between husband and wife is like a spring day's drizzle.
How do you pronounce "drizzle"?
Pronounced /ˈdɹɪz.l/.
Etymology
Perhaps a back-formation from dryseling, a dissimilated variant of Middle English drysning (“a falling of dew”), from Old English drysnan (“to extinguish”), related to Old English drēosan (“to fall, to decline”), making it cognate to modern English droze and drowse. Compare also dialectal Swedish drösla.