Words to describe weather and temperature
Vocabulary for the weather in a scene and the mood that comes with it.
About this list
Heat, cold, wind, damp, and drought, each its own group. Weather words carry mood as much as information, and the list gives a choice of both.
Heat
Nouns
- fire
- summer
- dog days
- sun
- heat
- white heat
- summer heat
- blood heat
- temperature
- flash
- sheet of fire
- fever
- tropical heat
- flame
- warming
- spark
- British Thermal Unit
- baking
- glow
- flush
- warmth
- quad
- blaze
- Bengal heat †
- calorie
- large calorie
- small calorie
- gram-calorie
- wildfire
- bonfire
- hectic
- degrees Celsius
- degrees Kelvin
- degrees Fahrenheit
- thermometer
- thermodynamics
- fervor
- caloric
- firework
- kilogram calorie
- devouring element
- pyrotechnics
- degrees centigrade
- scintillation
- broiling sun
- insolation
- therm
- sirocco
Verbs
- give
- be hot
- heat
- smoke
- burn
- sweat
- flame
- glow
- boil
- flush
- blaze
- stew
- simmer
- pant
- thaw
- blister
- bask
- reek
- fume
- broil
- seethe
- smolder
- swelter
Adjectives
- live
- close
- on fire
- hot
- white hot
- red hot
- hot as fire
- in a heat
- blood hot
- warm
- blood warm
- smoking
- burning
- smoking hot
- in a fever
- tropical
- in a sweat
- mild
- hot as pepper
- sunny
- like an oven
- thermal
- in flames
- baking
- in a glow
- warm as a toast
- warm as wool
- glowing
- volcanic
- in a blaze
- like a furnace
- fiery
- blazing
- oppressive
- piping hot
- dazzling
- ardent
- lukewarm
- steamy
- suffocating
- fervent
- stuffy
- incandescent
- alight
- sultry
- stifling
- ablaze
- igneous
Cold
Nouns
- cold
- ice
- winter
- hard winter
- heavy fall
- snow
- dry ice
- fall of snow
- depth of winter
- snow crystal
- chill
- wind-chill factor
- frost
- hard frost
- white frost
- hail
- sharp frost
- freezing mixture
- snow drift
- liquid nitrogen
- glacier
- Siberia
- liquid helium
- iceberg
- glaze
- snowflake
- shivering
- fresco
- rigor
- thick-ribbed ice
- numbness
- frostbite
- sleet
- chattering of teeth
- lolly
- barf
- coldness
- rime
- icicle
- hoar frost
- floe berg
- hailstone
- frigidity
Verbs
- be cold
- shake
- freeze
- freeze to death
- give one goose flesh
- starve
- quake
- perish with cold
- shudder
- shiver
- tremble
- quiver
Adjectives
- cool
- cold
- fresh
- cold as lead
- cold as Christmas
- cutting
- cold as a stone
- cold as iron
- raw
- cold as charity
- frozen
- frozen out
- bitter
- clay-cold
- chill
- keen
- freezing
- arctic
- cold as marble
- cold as a frog
- frost-bound
- biting
- piercing
- icy
- numb
- chilly
- starved
- chilled to the bone
- bleak
- cool as a cucumber
- glacial
- frost-bitten
- Siberian
- frosty
- cool as custard
- shivering
- lukewarm
- pinching
- frigid
- inclement
- wintry
- tepid
- boreal
- frost-nipped
- nipping
- frostbitten
- icebound
Adverbs
Wind
Nouns
- air
- current
- fan
- wind
- storm
- trade wind
- stream
- blow
- breath
- stress of weather
- breath of air
- dirty weather
- rough weather
- dirty sky
- blast
- ugly weather
- air pump
- blowing
- inflation
- jet stream
- hurricane
- catching of the breath
- lungs
- wind gauge
- keen blast
- breeze
- drift
- fresh breeze
- tornado
- barber
- gale
- half a gale
- ventilation
- typhoon
- wind sock
- stiff breeze
- puff
- blizzard
- aura
- cyclone
- monsoon
- tempest
- air blower
- whirlwind
- whiff
- fanning
- gust
- draught
Verbs
- issue
- fan
- stream
- blow
- blow up
- blow hard
- blow great guns
- breathe
- blow a hurricane
- cough
- puff
- gasp
- sniff
- whiff
- sneeze
- snuff
- inflate
- wheeze
- waft
- ventilate
- sniffle
- respire
- whiffle
- snuffle
Adjectives
Moisture
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Dryness
Nouns
- low water
- drought
- drainage
- vacuum oven
- drying oven
- drier
- clothes drier
- electric drier
- gas drier
- hair drier
- kiln
- ebb tide
- dryness
- clothesline
- desiccation
- aridity
Verbs
- be fine
- hold up
- be dry
- dry
- dry up
- blow dry
- hang out to dry
- drain
- wipe
- vacuum dry
- oven dry
- render dry
- soak up
- sponge
- kiln dry
- swab
- dehydrate
Adjectives
Sources and licenses
- Categories and period vocabulary from the 1911 edition of Roget's Thesaurus, in the public domain. A dagger (†) marks a word its editors already called obsolete.
- Words are ordered by how often they appear in modern English, measured with wordfreq.