monsoon

noun

mon·​soon män-ˈsün 

ˈmän-ˌsün

1

: a periodic wind especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia

2

: the season of the southwest monsoon in India and adjacent areas that is characterized by very heavy rainfall

3

: rainfall that is associated with the monsoon

monsoonal

män-ˈsü-nᵊl 

ˈmän-ˌsü-

adjective

Examples of monsoon in a Sentence

floods caused by summer monsoons

Recent Examples on the Web

The interconnected climate systems of the Greenland ice sheet, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, the Amazon rainforest, and the South American monsoon are destabilizing. —Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025

Among the technology’s many possible side effects are shifts in regional weather patterns and the disruption of monsoons that hundreds of millions of people depend on. —Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2025

My daughter's jacket has already kept her warm through a stormy hike in Boulder and tropical monsoons in Mumbai. —Karthika Gupta, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2025

While spring is the most popular climbing season, as weather is favorable on tall peaks, hundreds of foreign climbers come to climb smaller peaks during the autumn, between the rainy monsoon months and winter. —Manish Paudel, NBC news, 4 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete Dutch monssoen, from Portuguese monção, from Arabic mawsim time, season

First Known Use

1584, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for monsoon

• attune
• baboon
• balloon
• bassoon
• buffoon
• cartoon
• cocoon
• festoon
• gaboon
• harpoon
• immune
• impugn

Kids Definition

monsoon

noun

mon·​soon män-ˈsün 

1

: a periodic wind in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia

2

: the rainy season that accompanies the southwest monsoon

3

: rainfall that is associated with the monsoon season