Meaning & use
rain gauge
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A container or device that collects and measures how much rain has fallen in a place.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a rain gauge' for one, 'rain gauges' for more than one.
Patterns
- a rain gauge measures something
- read/check a rain gauge
The gardener checked the rain gauge after the storm and found two inches of water.
Scientists place rain gauges in open fields away from trees and buildings.
Our school rain gauge showed that it rained every day that week.
Word forms
| plural | rain gauges |
|---|
Common combinations
- check the rain gauge
- I check the rain gauge every morning before breakfast.
- an accurate rain gauge
- For a science project, you need an accurate rain gauge.
- rain gauge reading
- The rain gauge reading was higher than the official figure.
- empty the rain gauge
- Please empty the rain gauge so we can start a new measurement.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pluviometer
- A technical term for the same instrument; use 'rain gauge' in everyday speech and 'pluviometer' only in specialist writing.
Word family
Commonly confused: rain gauge or rainfall?
rain gauge vs rainfall
Rainfall is the amount of rain that falls, while a rain gauge is the device used to measure it.
Practice
We use a rain gauge to ______ how much rain has fallen.
Choose one answer.
'Measure' fits because a rain gauge gives the amount of rain. 'Prevent' is wrong because a gauge cannot stop rain, and 'predict' describes forecasting, not measuring.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rain gauge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.