drought
A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spellA period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons · Recorded US: Speaker: Wodencafe Recorder: Wodencafe, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
Translations
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By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Examples
100 sentencesMeaning
3 senses(countable, uncountable)A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.
His village had faced a drought twice.
Dürre, Trockenzeit, Trockenheit
за́сухаzásuxa, засу́шливостьzasúšlivostʹ, сушьsušʹ
посу́хаposúxa, за́сухаzásuxa, су́шаsúša
(broadly, countable, informal, uncountable)A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.
Sri Lanka ended their ten-game drought with a consolation win over Bangladesh.
(archaic, countable, uncountable)Dryness, aridness, dry heat
- a shortage of rainfall
- a prolonged shortage
Origin
From Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with DutcFrom Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry + -t (abstract nominal suffix).
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Forms
plural: droughtsSynonyms
2 synonyms- a shortage of rainfall:drouth
- a prolonged shortage:drouth
Antonyms
1 antonymsWord family
14 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- B2The environment and climate — Because the lesson uses it
- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.