Dictionary

wintry en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• ʹwĭnt(ə-)rē (General-American)
• /ˈwɪnt(ə)ɹɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [ˈwɪɾ̃(ə)ɹi] (General-American)
• /ˈwɪnt(ə)ɹi/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From winter + -y; compare Old English wintriġ (a parallel formation).

Meanings

1. Suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy.
   • In one village in Bachu County, more than 1,000 buildings and houses collapsed, according to the state-run New China News Agency. Tens of thousands of people were left homeless and were preparing to spend the night outside in the wintry chill, witnesses said. 2003 February 24, John Pomfret, “Quake Kills More Than 250 in Western China”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2024:
   • wintry weather
   • A faded, and an ancient dragon he was; and many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of gray. 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 19:
   • The UK could face a spell of wintry weather in March, with lower-than-average temperatures and even the chance of snow, the Met Office has warned. 2023 February 28, James Robinson, “UK weather: Met Office says snow could be on the way as cold air over Greenland risks bringing wintry conditions”, in Sky News, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2023:
2. (of precipitation) Containing sleet or snow.
   • It will be cloudy overnight, with outbreaks of heavy rain at times. The rain may turn wintry over higher ground.
3. Aged, white-haired.
4. Chilling, cheerless.
   • a wintry remark
   • He reached the old ruins at last, dim masses of moss-grown masonry in the glimmer of the wintry starlight. 1934, Frank Richards, The Magnet: The Bounder's Folly:

Forms

Deriveds

wintry mix · wintry shower · wintrily · unwintry · wintriness

Synonyms

gray · doleful · gerontological · gloomy · dark · ivy-covered · forlorn · of a certain age · cobwebbed · drear · moss-grown · dreary · bleak · decrepit · aged · lack-laughter · comfortless · snowy · sombre · older than the Pyramids · woeful · older than the hills · cheerless · olden · joyless · melancholy · solemn · unhappy · uncheerful · on in years · desolate · old as the hills · gayless · miserable · gloomsome · eld · wintry · grim · hiemal · drearisome · dreary · gerontologic · geriatric · age-old · dire · old as Methuselah · gamol · dreich · somber · antediluvian · wintry · lugubrious · senior · eldern · auld · spiritless · old · old as the Pyramids · sunless · venerable · dolesome · grisly · dismal · cobwebby · older than dirt · gray · no joke · depressing · mirthless · hoary · superannuated · bleak · wintry · elder · uncheery · preserved · long in the tooth · saturnine · morose · unmerry · sleety · matured · elderly · sullen · ancient · hoary · disconsolate · brumal · over the hill · hibernal

Translations (58)

be зі́мні (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · la hibernalis (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · fi harmaahapsinen (aged, white(-haired etc.)) · pt hibernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · sv vintrig (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ka საზამთრო (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · vec invernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · la hiemālis (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ar شَتَوِيّ (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ro iernatic (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · lt žiemiškas (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · uk зимо́вий (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ka ზამთრული (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ast ivernizu (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · pl zimowy (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ka სუსხიანი (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · hy ձմեռային (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ru неприветливый (chilling, cheerless) · cs ledový (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · eo vintra (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · cs mrazivý (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ka ცივი (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · cy gaeafol (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · bg унил (chilling, cheerless) · it invernale (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · fa زمستانی (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ru седо́й (aged, white(-haired etc.)) · pt invernoso (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · no vinterlig (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · gl invernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ast ivernosu (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · es invernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ru зи́мний (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · mi pūhuka (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ka ზამთრის (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · bg мразовит (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · ru уны́лый (chilling, cheerless) · fr hivernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · fi talvinen (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · fr hibernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · cy oeraidd (chilling, cheerless) · ru холо́дный (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · gl invernizo (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · grc χειμέριος (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · sw -a baridi sana (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · cy oer (chilling, cheerless) · be зімо́вы (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · kw gwavek (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · pt invernal (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · gd geamhrachail (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · bg умърлушен (chilling, cheerless) · el χειμωνιάτικος (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · gv geuragh (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · bg безрадостен (chilling, cheerless) · hu télies (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · hu fagyos (chilling, cheerless) · de winterlich (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy) · gd geamhradail (suggestive or characteristic of winter; cold, stormy)