Meaning & use
partly frozen rain
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Rain that has partly turned to ice as it falls, so it feels like a mix of rain and ice.
Grammar: Used like other weather nouns: 'Partly frozen rain was falling.' No plural form.
Patterns
- partly frozen rain falls
- in partly frozen rain
The forecast warned of partly frozen rain overnight, so the roads could be slippery.
We drove through partly frozen rain for an hour before it turned to snow.
Common combinations
- a mix of rain and ice
- The storm brought a mix of rain and ice that made walking dangerous.
- freezing rain
- Freezing rain coated every branch with a thin layer of ice.
- sleet
- Sleet tapped against the windows all afternoon.
- icy conditions
- Icy conditions on the bridge caused several accidents.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sleet
- Sleet is the usual word for partly frozen rain in British English; in American English it often means ice pellets.
- freezing rain
- Freezing rain is rain that freezes when it touches a cold surface, not rain that is already partly ice in the air.
- ice pellets
- Ice pellets are small hard balls of ice, completely frozen, not partly frozen rain.
Word family
Commonly confused: partly frozen rain or freezing rain? partly frozen rain or hail?
partly frozen rain vs freezing rain
Freezing rain is liquid when it falls and freezes on contact; partly frozen rain already contains ice as it falls.
partly frozen rain vs hail
Hail is balls of ice that form in thunderstorms, usually in warm weather, not a mix of rain and ice.
Practice
What is 'partly frozen rain'?
Choose one answer.
The phrase means rain that is partly ice, so option 1 is wrong because it says 'completely', and option 3 is wrong because it describes freezing after contact, which is 'freezing rain'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “partly frozen rain”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.