often attributive
rained; raining; rains
1
: to send down rain
2
: to fall as water in drops from the clouds
3
: to fall like rain
soot and ash rained down
Synonyms
Examples of rain in a Sentence
Noun
The weatherman forecasts rain for this afternoon.
Everyone went inside when the rain began to fall.
What the garden needs is a good, soaking rain.
A light rain began to fall.
There has been some flooding due to the recent heavy rains.
We've had a week of rain.
The rains came and flooded the valley.
Verb
Sparks from the fireworks rained on the field.
The volcano rained ashes on the city.
Recent Examples on the Web
Koh Ewe, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Moss usually absorbs enough moisture from rain and humidity in the air, but may go dormant and turn brown during dry spells.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 17 Apr. 2024
Storms moving through Wisconsin late Tuesday resulted in nearly 0.5 inches of rain in Milwaukee and more than an inch across other parts of the state.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2024
No more than an inch to 1.5 inches of rain is expected to fall across the reagion.
—Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Apr. 2024
Heavy rains during the last couple of weeks flooded low lying areas and closed several roads.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 15 Apr. 2024
Soil sampled two days after the storm around Brickell showed patterns that indicated surge could be blamed for flooding a block or two from the bay, but further inland was caused by heavy rain unable to drain into the bay.
—Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2024
Despite persistent light rain, dozens of neighbors came out to see the spectacular sight of what amounted to a flying house.
—David Caraccio, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024
As my colleagues Grace Toohey and Hayley Smith report, downtown Los Angeles has received more than 52 inches of rain in the last two water years as of this week — the second-highest amount ever recorded.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Ahmad Ibsais, TIME, 18 Apr. 2024
As the space industry continues to grow, so does the amount of debris raining down on Earth, and the chances of it resulting in injury is increasing.
—Passant Rabie / Gizmodo, Quartz, 16 Apr. 2024
Once the chalky fungal plug is ripped apart, the infected and disemboweled cicada flies around, raining down fluffy, brown spores.
—Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Boos rained down from the Golden 1 Center stands on March 7.
—Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 14 Apr. 2024
For the 2 minutes and 33 seconds that the midday sun in North Texas was completely shrouded by the moon — raining darkness and turning day into dusk — the animals took their cues from the humans.
—Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Apr. 2024
Fearing a decent-sized storm literally raining on the parade, organizers decided to call off this year’s event and hope for its return next year.
—Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024
Small pieces of material from the ceiling rained down.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
More than 48,000 hearts rained down from the fourth floor of the rotunda at the Idaho Capitol, as more than a dozen protesters dropped the colored paper over the railings Tuesday afternoon.
—Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman, 2 Apr. 2024
Noun
Critics argue that seeding clouds in one region may simply deprive another of rain, as the clouds will unleash precipitation before they were meant to.
—Koh Ewe, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Moss usually absorbs enough moisture from rain and humidity in the air, but may go dormant and turn brown during dry spells.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 17 Apr. 2024
Storms moving through Wisconsin late Tuesday resulted in nearly 0.5 inches of rain in Milwaukee and more than an inch across other parts of the state.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2024
No more than an inch to 1.5 inches of rain is expected to fall across the reagion.
—Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Apr. 2024
Heavy rains during the last couple of weeks flooded low lying areas and closed several roads.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 15 Apr. 2024
Soil sampled two days after the storm around Brickell showed patterns that indicated surge could be blamed for flooding a block or two from the bay, but further inland was caused by heavy rain unable to drain into the bay.
—Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald, 5 Apr. 2024
Despite persistent light rain, dozens of neighbors came out to see the spectacular sight of what amounted to a flying house.
—David Caraccio, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024
As my colleagues Grace Toohey and Hayley Smith report, downtown Los Angeles has received more than 52 inches of rain in the last two water years as of this week — the second-highest amount ever recorded.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
Verb
Children who are slowly freezing to death as bombs rain down upon them.
—Ahmad Ibsais, TIME, 18 Apr. 2024
As the space industry continues to grow, so does the amount of debris raining down on Earth, and the chances of it resulting in injury is increasing.
—Passant Rabie / Gizmodo, Quartz, 16 Apr. 2024
Once the chalky fungal plug is ripped apart, the infected and disemboweled cicada flies around, raining down fluffy, brown spores.
—Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Boos rained down from the Golden 1 Center stands on March 7.
—Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 14 Apr. 2024
For the 2 minutes and 33 seconds that the midday sun in North Texas was completely shrouded by the moon — raining darkness and turning day into dusk — the animals took their cues from the humans.
—Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Apr. 2024
Fearing a decent-sized storm literally raining on the parade, organizers decided to call off this year’s event and hope for its return next year.
—Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024
Small pieces of material from the ceiling rained down.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024
More than 48,000 hearts rained down from the fourth floor of the rotunda at the Idaho Capitol, as more than a dozen protesters dropped the colored paper over the railings Tuesday afternoon.
—Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman, 2 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rain
Cite this Entry
“Rain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
rain
2 of 2 verb1
: to fall as water in drops from the clouds
2
: to send down rain
3
: to fall like rain
ashes rained from the volcano
4
: to give in large amounts
rained blows on each other
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