Did you know?

Adjective

In the early 17th century, clerics began wearing long cloaks known as "pluvials" for protection against the rain during processions. The name of the cloak is based on the Latin word for "rain": "pluvia." By the mid-17th century, "pluvial" was also being used as an adjective meaning "of or relating to rain," as in "pluvial water." Later, in the 19th century, it made a splash in the geologic field as a word describing epochs having relatively high average rainfall and things caused or formed by rain, like "pluvial erosion" or "pluvial lakes."

Examples of pluvial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Swiss Re, for instance, last year started considering pluvial—that is, heavy rainfall, similar to the recent European floods—flood zones when assessing risks. — Julie Steinberg, WSJ, 22 July 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pluvial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.