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win·ter | \ ˈwin-tər 
\
\Definition of winter
(Entry 1 of 3)
1 : the season between autumn and spring comprising in the northern hemisphere usually the months of December, January, and February or as reckoned astronomically extending from the December solstice to the March equinox
2 : the colder half of the year
3 : year happened many winters ago
4 : a period of inactivity or decay
winter
verbwintered; wintering\ ˈwin-t(ə-)riŋ \
\Definition of winter (Entry 2 of 3)
1 : to pass the winter
winters in the Caribbean
2 : to feed or find food during the winter
—used with on
: to keep, feed, or manage during the winter
winter
adjectiveDefinition of winter (Entry 3 of 3)
1 : of, relating to, or suitable for winter
a winter vacation winter clothes
2 : sown in the autumn and harvested in the following spring or summer
winter wheat winter rye — compare summer
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Examples of winter in a Sentence
Noun
They spend winters in Florida.
We're in for a cold winter this year, I hear.
She traveled there two winters ago.
the last day of winter Verb
The birds will winter in the southern part of the country.
My family winters in Florida.
The farm agreed to winter our horses for us.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun But the real test would be if this new texture lasted after day one — bonus points for lasting through day two of my wash-and-go in the frigid and dry Boston winter.
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Gabi Thorne, Allure, "Mielle's Leave-In Conditioner Made Me Believe in Natural Hair Products Again," 11 Feb. 2020 Some of those funds would also help pay for PG&E costs stemming from a series of 2019 weather events: winter storms in January and February, wind damage to power lines in October, two small fires and some tree mortality and fire risk projects.
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J.d. Morris, SFChronicle.com, "PG&E seeks $1.4 billion rate hikes for fire prevention, insurance costs," 10 Feb. 2020 So far, this powerful winter storm has lived up to expectations, producing up to 14 inches of snow in Texas and 12 tornado reports across Mississippi on Wednesday.
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NBC News, "Snow, ice, heavy rain and storms cause East Coast travel trouble," 6 Feb. 2020 Thousands of flights were canceled, angry storms and tornadoes tore through several Southern states, and the Northeast was bracing for up to 20 inches of snow as a gnarly winter storm roared east.
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Ashley Shaffer, USA TODAY, "Behold, the self-declared winner of Iowa," 6 Feb. 2020 Many winter storms hitting Fargo come in from the Rocky Mountains to the southwest.
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Joe Barrett, WSJ, "Snow Piles Up in Fargo. Not Necessarily Because It Snowed.," 6 Feb. 2020 Those who have been quietly BUIDLing during the crypto winter will begin to deliver beta and production versions of their platforms.
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David Z. Morris, Fortune, "Ledger readers’ 2020 predictions for fintech and cryptocurrency," 5 Feb. 2020 The winter of 2018 to 2019 saw a record die-offs of bee colonies, according to the .
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Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, "These Bees Fight Varroa Mites With Help From Special Engineered Bacteria," 4 Feb. 2020 Once sunlight disappears, the standard gear for winter running in Northeast Ohio that got Foster through the half marathon with nothing more than frozen pants won’t even begin to suffice.
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Zachary Lewis, cleveland, "Cleveland scientist wins half-marathon at the South Pole: Stretching Out," 29 Jan. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Holiday with the Cranes: Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14-15, in various locations throughout Galveston, the event celebrates the return of the island’s wintering sandhill cranes with indoor and outdoor nature activities.
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Mel Jimenez, Houston Chronicle, "Special events bring lots of holiday cheer to the island," 15 Nov. 2019 One of Franklin’s wintering camps was identified on Beechey Island, but searchers found nothing else that revealed Franklin’s fate.
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National Geographic, "Arctic obsession drove explorers to seek the North Pole," 24 Jan. 2020 In turn, the deer rely on these old-growth forests for their wintering habitat.
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Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, "The Tongass National Forest is a Wilderness on the Chopping Block," 16 Jan. 2020 Mary enjoyed traveling with friends, knitting, playing cards, doing crossword puzzles, and wintering in Florida.
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courant.com, "Mary R. Mayer," 13 Dec. 2019 Global warming has pushed the winter snow line northward, stimulating hawks who once wintered in Boulder County to winter in Nebraska and Wyoming instead.
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The Know, "Grassland hawks driven into Boulder County by heavy snow," 4 Dec. 2019 During the 1980s and 1990s, wintering ferruginous and rough-legged hawks were considered fairly common on the plains of Boulder County.
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The Know, "Grassland hawks driven into Boulder County by heavy snow," 4 Dec. 2019 The sprawling wetlands near the beach served as a refuge for wintering waterfowl and as a nursery for coho, steelhead, and many other fish, amphibians and reptiles.
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Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, "Restoring a San Mateo County creek to keep new generations of fish thriving," 5 Nov. 2019 The bayou here used to flood during the winter and attract a lot of wintering ducks.
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David Taylor, Houston Chronicle, "Preservation of the Champion Lake Lodge and Cottage begins Nov. 9," 28 Oct. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Winter visitors can catch a glimpse of the refuge’s migrating tundra swans.
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Danielle Ohl, baltimoresun.com, "Weekend adventure: A visitor's guide to Rock Hall and its old-school, waterfront charms," 3 Aug. 2017 Gigi appears in Stuart Weitzman's Fall/Winter 2017 campaign in the sleekest boots (including The Cling Bootie), bright pink blush, and a Shay Ashual wig that totally fooled us at first glance.
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Sarah Wu, Allure, "Gigi Hadid Debuts Short Hair for Stuart Weitzman Campaign," 12 July 2017 Gigi appeared in Stuart Weitzman's Fall/Winter 2017 campaign in the sleekest boots (including The Cling Bootie), bright pink blush, and a Shay Ashual wig that totally fooled us at first glance.
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Sarah Wu, Teen Vogue, "Gigi Hadid Debuts Short Hair for Stuart Weitzman Campaign," 12 July 2017 In The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes is turned into a weapon with no agency of his own.
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Jenna Pearl, Marie Claire, "9 Hidden Feminist Messages in the Marvel Cinematic Universe," 5 June 2017 Winter Carnival events for Feb. 3 and 4 will be announced later.
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Kathy Berdan, Twin Cities, "Eyeing Super Bowl, St. Paul supersizes Winter Carnival to 17 days," 25 May 2017 Winter wheat and barley now lag about a week in development, compared to the last several years, according to Liza Malyshko, an analyst at UkrAgroConsult in Kiev.
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Anatoly Medetsky, Bloomberg.com, "Chilly Weather Risks Delaying Black Sea Wheat, Barley Harvest," 23 May 2017 Winter color is maroon, with red tones across the green leaves in summer.
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Neil Sperry, star-telegram, "Plan(t) on these top 10 best groundcover choices," 16 May 2017 Winter storm warnings are even posted in Northeastern Washington.
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Paul P. Murphy, CNN, "Storm rejects springtime, dumps snow in Pacific Northwest," 16 May 2017
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'winter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Learn More about winter
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
Cold Words for Cold Times
Cold Words for Cold Times
Maybe obscure words will warm you up.
Do the Names of the Seasons Get...
Do the Names of the Seasons Get Capitalized?
On common nouns and falling leaves
Latin Winter Words and Other Words for...
Latin Winter Words and Other Words for Snow
Because 200 seemed like overkill
Dictionary Entries near winter
See More Nearby EntriesStatistics for winter
Last Updated
17 Feb 2020
Look-up Popularity
Cite this Entry
“Winter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/winter. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.
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More Definitions for winter
winter
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of winter
(Entry 1 of 2)
: the coldest season of the year that is after autumn and before spring
winter
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of winter (Entry 2 of 2)
: to spend the winter in a particular place
: to care for or manage (animals) during the winter
See the full definition for winter in the English Language Learners Dictionary
winter
nounwin·ter | \ ˈwin-tər \
\Kids Definition of winter
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : the season between autumn and spring (as from December to March in the northern half of the earth)
2 : one of the years of a person's life
a person of seventy winters
winter
verbwintered; wintering
Kids Definition of winter (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : to pass the winter
We wintered in Florida.
2 : to keep, feed, or manage during the winter
The farmer winters livestock on silage.
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Comments on winter
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Time Traveler for winter
The first known use of winter was before the 12th century
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