Meaning & use
sleet
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A form of precipitation consisting of a mixture of rain and partly frozen ice pellets.
Grammar: Uncountable noun; used without 'a' or plural.
Patterns
- sleet and snow
- freezing sleet
The weather forecast warned of sleet and strong winds.
Sleet was falling, making the roads slippery.
We had to drive through sleet on the way home.
verbintransitive
To fall as sleet (used with 'it' as the subject).
Grammar: Used with 'it' to talk about weather: It was sleeting.
Patterns
- it sleets
- it was sleeting
It was sleeting when we left the house.
It often sleets in late winter here.
Word forms
| third person singular | sleets |
|---|---|
| past tense | sleeted |
| past participle | sleeted |
| -ing form | sleeting |
Common combinations
- sleet and snow
- The forecast calls for sleet and snow overnight.
- freezing sleet
- Freezing sleet made the sidewalks dangerous.
- a mix of sleet and rain
- We drove through a mix of sleet and rain.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: sleet or hail?
sleet vs hail
Hail consists of solid ice pellets formed in thunderstorms; sleet is a mixture of rain and ice.
Practice
What is 'sleet'?
Choose one answer.
Sleet is a mix of rain and partly frozen ice pellets, unlike snow (fully frozen) or hail (solid ice).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sleet”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.