monsoon

noun

mon·​soon män-ˈsün How to pronounce monsoon (audio)
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 How to pronounce monsoon (audio)
ˈmän-ˌsü-
adjective

Examples of monsoon in a Sentence

floods caused by summer monsoons
Recent Examples on the Web Why are there so many deaths at Lake Mead? With rising lake levels and dangerous monsoon winds, Lake Mead National Park has been identified as the deadliest national park in America, totaling 145 deaths out of its average of roughly 5 million guests per year between 2014 and 2021. The Arizona Republic, 25 Feb. 2024 Aerosols, or fine particulates, less than 2.5 microns in diameter released into the air by a range of industrial processes are beginning to alter monsoon rain patterns on which millions of people depend for growing food. Joyeeta Gupta, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024 Saigon Oi Southeast Asia has monsoon season; Sacramento had the 60 MPH gusts and sporadic rainfall that whipped the region in February. Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 Specifically, researchers have been puzzled by the cats’ diet during the monsoon season, which inundates the country’s low-lying wetlands with torrential floods every year. Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 20 Feb. 2024 Mushrooms are abundant on the forest floor during monsoon season, when Mr. Lohit and his friends found the frog, said Sonali Garg, a herpetologist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard who was not involved with the finding. Jude Coleman, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2024 The threats were constant: fierce attacks by superior numbers of enemy troops, monsoon rains, tropical diseases and malnutrition. Trip Gabriel, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2024 His yields and income have been squeezed by erratic monsoon rains, unseasonal downpours, and early heatwaves – fueled by climate change – together with rising costs for fertilizers and other overheads. Bhasker Tripathi, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Jan. 2024 The film’s least gentle aspect is the script, which hints several times that someone has plunged or will plunge from a roof or balcony, and which is bracketed by both the opening conflagration and a monsoon that drenches the story’s multiple conclusions. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'monsoon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of monsoon was in 1584

Dictionary Entries Near monsoon

Cite this Entry

“Monsoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monsoon. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

monsoon

noun
mon·​soon män-ˈsün How to pronounce monsoon (audio)
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

More from Merriam-Webster on monsoon

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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