Weathering

noun, verb

noun, verb ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Weather, especially favourable or fair weather. countable, obsolete, uncountable
  2. 2
    Mechanical or chemical breaking down of rocks in situ by weather or other causes. countable, uncountable

    "At that point the cuesta is 10 miles wide but the hilltops have an eastward descent of only about 62 feet. In its general eastward slope the surface of the cuesta is exactly that of one made by weathering and stream erosion, acting upon a gently-dipping limestone bed in a region never glaciated."

  3. 3
    A slight inclination given to an approximately horizontal surface to enable it to throw off water. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The action of weather on objects exposed to it. countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of weather form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
ablationerosionravages of timeusewearwear and tear

Example

More examples

"The birds are weathering the storm underneath the eaves of the house."

Etymology

From Middle English wederyng, equivalent to weather + -ing.

Related phrases

frost weatheringspace weatheringweathering panweathering steelbreak downin situ

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