weather

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weather

  • /ˈwɛðə/ UK
  • /ˈwɛðɚ/ US
  • /ˈweðə/ Australia, New Zealand
  • /ˈwɛðəɾ/ Scotland

Sounds like wether, whether (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -ɛðə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Middle English weder, wedir, from Old English weder, from Proto-West Germanic *wedr, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą, from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰrom (=*we-dʰrom), from *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots wather (“weather”), Saterland Frisian Weeder (“weather”), Cimbrian bèttar (“weather”), Dutch weder, weer (“weather”), German Wetter (“weather”), Low German Weder (“weather”), Luxembourgish Wieder (“weather”), Yiddish וועטער (veter, “weather”), Danish vejr (“weather”), Faroese, Icelandic veður (“weather”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“weather”), Norwegian Nynorsk veder, vêr (“weather”), Swedish väder (“weather”); also more distantly related to Russian вёдро (vjódro, “fair weather”) and perhaps Albanian vrëndë (“light rain”).

Other cognates include Sanskrit निर्वाण (nirvāṇa, “blown or put out, extinguished”).

noun weathers

  1. countable, uncountable The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc. What's the weather like today?
  2. countable, uncountable Unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions, and their effects. Wooden garden furniture must be well oiled as it is continuously exposed to weather.
  3. countable, uncountable The direction from which the wind is blowing; used attributively to indicate the windward side. One complained of a bad cold in his head, upon which Jonah mixed him a pitch-like potion of gin and molasses, which he swore was a sovereign cure for all colds and catarrhs whatsoever, never mind of how long standing, or whether caught off the coast of Labrador, or on the weather side of an ice-isla

    Similar: weatherboard

  4. countable, figuratively A situation.
  5. countable, obsolete, uncountable A storm; a tempest. What gusts of weather from that gathering cloud / My thoughts presage!
  6. countable, uncountable A light shower of rain.

Similar: state of the atmosphere

adjective

  1. not comparable Facing towards the flow of a fluid, usually air. weather side, weather helm

    Similar: windward

Opposite: lee

verb weathers · weathering · weathered

  1. To expose to the weather, or show the effects of such exposure, or to withstand such effects. The organisms […] seem indestructible, while the hard matrix in which they are embedded has weathered from around them.
  2. broadly To sustain the trying effect of; to bear up against and overcome; to endure; to resist. "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, / And do not tremble so; / For I can weather the roughest gale, That ever wind did blow."
  3. To break down, of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air.
  4. To cause (rocks) to break down by crushing, grinding, and/or dissolving with acids. Lichens' ability to weather makes them a geological force, yet they do more than disolve the physical features of the world.
  5. To pass to windward in a vessel, especially to beat 'round. to weather a cape    to weather another ship
  6. To endure or survive an event or action without undue damage. Joshua weathered a collision with a freighter near South Africa.
  7. To place (a hawk) unhooded in the open air. If your hawk is bad-weathered, that is, will not fit on your fist when the wind blows, but hales, and beats, and hangs by the jeſſes, ſhe has an ill habit of the worſt kind.
  8. To rain; to storm. But there's no law against taking pictures when it's weathering out there, and you're likely to produce some beautiful, if not different, images for your efforts. All that's needed is to dress your camera for the weather[…]

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: windward, upwind, endure, brave out, brave, atmospheric condition, weather condition, climate, meteorology, meteorological, weatherman, meteorologist, atmospheric, climatology, atmosphere, temperature

adjective

Opposite: lee

Translations

Every language

noun state of the atmosphere

Españoltiempo atmosférico, tiempo meteorológico m temperie, temple, temperamento, cariz
한국어날씨 nalssi, 일기 ilgi
日本語天気 tenki, 天候 tenkō, 気象 kishō
中文天氣 /天气 tiānqì, 氣候 /气候 qìhòu, 天景 tiānjǐng
हिन्दीमौसम mausam, ऋतु ŕtu
Kiswahilihali ya hewa
Portuguêstempo
Françaistemps, météo
DeutschWetter
Italianotempo
Ελληνικάκαιρός kairós
Românăvreme, stare atmosferică, timp
Русскийпого́да pogóda
Tiếng Việtthời tiết
العربيةطَقْس ṭaqs, جَوّ jaww
עבריתמזג אוויר, מֶזֶג־אֲוִיר mézeg-avír

noun unpleasant or destructive atmospheric conditions

Españolintemperie
Portuguêsmau tempo
Françaisintempéries
DeutschWetter, Wind und Wetter
Italianointemperie
Ελληνικάκαιρός kairós, στοιχεία stoicheía
Românăintemperii
Русскийнепого́да nepogóda, нена́стье nenástʹje

noun nautical: windward side of a ship

Русскийнаве́тренная сторона́ navétrennaja storoná

verb to endure an event

日本語乗り切る norikiru
Portuguêsaguentar
Deutschüberstehen
Italianosuperare

verb to expose to weather

Españolmeteorizar
한국어바래다 baraeda

verb to breakdown of rocks and other materials, under the effects of exposure to rain, sunlight, temperature, and air

Españolmeteorizarse
Deutschverwittern
Italianoerodere

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Cite this
MLA

"weather." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/weather. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

weather. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/weather

Chicago

"weather." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/weather.

BibTeX
@misc{weather_2026,
  title = {weather},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/weather},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}