Meaning

Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and the months of June, July, and August in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the time when the sun is lowest in the sky, resulting in short days, and the time of year with the lowest atmospheric temperatures for the region..

Definitions by Sense

1. Traditionally the fourth of the four seasons, typically regarded as spanning either the period between the winter solstice to the spring equinox, or the months of December, January, and February in temperate and polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere and the months of June, July, and August in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the time when the sun is lowest in the sky, resulting in short days, and the time of year with the lowest atmospheric temperatures for the region.
2. (figuratively, poetic) The period of decay, old age, death, or the like.
3. (countable, fashion) Someone with dark skin, eyes and hair, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
4. (obsolete) An appliance to be fixed on the front of a grate, to keep a kettle warm, etc.
5. (India, archaic) The rainy season.
6. (intransitive) To spend the winter (in a particular place).
7. (transitive) To store something (for instance animals) somewhere over winter to protect it from cold.

Example Sentences

There shall he learn, ere sixteen winters old, That …

Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

And after summer evermore succeeds Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold.

It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

[…] a woman, tall, and strong of aspect, of some thirty winters by seeming, [...]

Life's autumn past, I stand on winter's verge.

Buterin seemed to sense that the market was out of balance, and he made a smart decision that helped Ethereum weather the crypto winter and continue to build while the market was down.

Note that the Citie of Goa is the principall place of all the Oriental India, and the winter thus beginneth the 15 of May, with very great raine.

Word Forms

• winters
• Winter
• wintering
• wintered

Synonyms for winter

Related Words

When Should You Use Winter?

Use winter when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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