Sleet
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Pellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes. US, countable, uncountable
- 2 partially melted snow (or a mixture of rain and snow) wordnet
- 3 Precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow. Ireland, Northeastern, UK, US, countable, uncountable
"Though it never really snows it’s more like horizontal sleet"
- 4 A smooth coating of ice formed on ground or other objects by freezing rain. countable, rare, uncountable
- 5 The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions. countable, uncountable
- 1 To be in a state in which sleet is falling. impersonal
"I won't bother going out until it's stopped sleeting."
- 2 precipitate as a mixture of rain and snow wordnet
Example
More examples"In a far retreat / there lies a haven; towards the deep doth stand / an island, on whose jutting headlands beat / the broken billows, shivered into sleet."
Etymology
From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.
Related phrases
More for "sleet"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.