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Gust Beyond Wind
You’re no doubt familiar with the breezy gust meaning “a brief burst of wind.” But about a century and a half before that word first appeared in print in the late 16th century, a different gust blew onto the scene. The windy gust likely comes from a synonymous Old Norse word, gustr, whereas the older gust, which refers to the sensation of taste as well as to a feeling of enthusiastic delight, comes ultimately from gustus, the Latin word for “taste.” English speakers eventually mostly dropped that older gust, replacing it in the early 17th century with a similar gustus word borrowed from Italian: gusto is now the go-to word when you want to refer to enthusiastic and vigorous enjoyment or appreciation. You can use it with gusto.
Examples of gust in a Sentence
Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2025
Prepare for pea-sized hail (0.25 inches) and wind gusts of up to 50 mph.
—Star-Telegram Weather Bot, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Aug. 2025
Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2025
Wind gusts up to 90 mph were recorded in the state both early Saturday and again early Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
—Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gust
Cite this Entry
“Gust.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gust. Accessed 27 Aug. 2025.
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