avalanche
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avalanche
- /ˈævəlɑːnʃ/ UK
- /ˈævəlæn(t)ʃ/ Canada, US
Where it comes from
From French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval (“downhill”) and standard lavençhe, from Vulgar Latin *labanka (compare Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”) (compare Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansh lavina), from Latin lābēs, from lābor (“to slip, slide”).
noun avalanches
- A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice. They were drinking from a fountain / That was pouring like an avalanche / Coming down the mountain
- A fall of earth, rocks, etc., similar to that of an avalanche of snow or ice.
- A sudden, great, or irresistible descent or influx; anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity. Yes, but she talked it away. She uses a whole language to herself. Her discourse is an avalanche of words, beneath which the hearers are overwhelmed.
verb avalanches · avalanching · avalanched
- To descend like an avalanche. Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were—[…] We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party i
- To come down upon; to overwhelm. The shelf broke and the boxes avalanched the workers.
- To propel downward like an avalanche. When our artist and I were dropped down our first coal-mine, we felt a leetle bit anxious. It was something new. But we have been avalanched down the incline from Peak Forest, and boomeranged round the sudden curve at Rowsley, and have run the gauntlet at Penistone and King’s Cross without ever taki
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: roll down, landslide, snow, ice, glacier, blizzard, flood, cascade, tide, torrent, deluge, barrage, spate, influx, raft, slide
Translations
Every language
noun large sliding mass of snow and ice
| Español | alud, avalancha |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 눈사태 nunsatae, 설붕 seolbung |
| 日本語 | 雪崩 nadare |
| 中文 | 雪崩 xuěbēng |
| हिन्दी | हिमस्खलन himaskhalan |
| Português | avalanche |
| Français | avalanche |
| Deutsch | Lawine, Schneelawine, Eislawine, Gletscherlawine |
| Italiano | valanga, slavina |
| Ελληνικά | χιονοστιβάδα chionostiváda |
| Română | avalanșă, lavină |
| Русский | лави́на lavína |
| Tiếng Việt | tuyết lở, lở tuyết |
| العربية | تَيْهُور tayhūr, اِنْهِيَار ثَلْجِيّ inhiyār ṯaljiyy |
noun fall of earth, rocks, etc.
| 日本語 | 山崩れ yamakuzure |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 山崩 shānbēng |
| Português | deslize, deslizamento |
| Français | avalanche |
| Deutsch | Lawine |
| Italiano | frana |
| Ελληνικά | κατολίσθηση katolísthisi |
| Română | alunecare de teren, ebulment |
| Русский | лави́на lavína, обва́л obvál |
| עברית | מַפֹּלֶת mapólet |
noun sudden descent or influx
| Français | avalanche |
|---|---|
| Italiano | valanga |
| Ελληνικά | χιονοστιβάδα chionostiváda |
| Română | alunecare |
| Русский | обва́л obvál |
verb to come down upon
| Română | copleși |
|---|
Talk about this word "avalanche." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/avalanche. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. avalanche. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/avalanche "avalanche." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/avalanche.Cite this
@misc{avalanche_2026,
title = {avalanche},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/avalanche},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
