Sleet Meaning
/sliːt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounPellets of ice made of mostly-frozen raindrops or refrozen melted snowflakes.
nounPrecipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.
Sentence Examples
It's not much fun to walk through sleet without even a warm jacket.
Sleet was falling from the sky.
When there is snow, ice, sleet, hail, thunder, rain, and wind.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The weather forecast warned of freezing rain turning into ____ during the afternoon commute.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rain turned into ____ as the temperature dropped, making the sidewalks very slippery for walkers.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English slete, probably from Old English *slēte, *slȳte, *slīete, from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Though it never really snows it’s more like horizontal sleet"
— 2007, “Is This Christmas?”, performed by The Wombats:
"It was dark, it was cold, it was sleeting - dreadful conditions for driving... perfect conditions for an accident."
— 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 38:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The weather forecast warned of freezing rain turning into ____ during the afternoon commute.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rain turned into ____ as the temperature dropped, making the sidewalks very slippery for walkers.