Katabatic

//kæt.əˈbæt.ɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of katabatic wind. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Adjective
  1. 1
    Downslope on a mountainside. not-comparable

    "At the field camp, paper-thin tents shudder beneath katabatic blasts of freezing wind, stoves sputter a stingy flame, and a few trudging specks haul shovels through a cold world where extra food and equipment cannot be bought at any price."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of an air current or wind; moving downward or down a slope because of cooling especially at night wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
catabatic

Example

More examples

"At the field camp, paper-thin tents shudder beneath katabatic blasts of freezing wind, stoves sputter a stingy flame, and a few trudging specks haul shovels through a cold world where extra food and equipment cannot be bought at any price."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek καταιβατός (kataibatós, “down-going, descending”), from κατα- (kata-, “down”) + βαίνω (baínō, “to go”).

Related phrases

katabatic wind

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.