Meaning & use
snow
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Meanings
noununcountable
Frozen water that falls from clouds as soft white flakes in cold weather and collects on the ground in a layer.
Grammar: Normally uncountable: There is snow on the road, not a snow; the plural snows is rare and literary.
Patterns
- a layer of snow
- covered in snow
- snow on something
We woke up to six inches of fresh snow on the lawn.
The children spent the afternoon building a snowman out of wet snow.
Snow has already closed the mountain pass this year.
verbintransitive
To fall from the sky as snow.
Grammar: Usually used with the empty subject it: It snowed all night.
Patterns
- it snows
- it is snowing
- it snowed on something
It snowed for three days, and the whole village was cut off.
If it snows tonight, school will probably be canceled.
It was snowing lightly when we left the cabin.
noununcountableinformal
The flickering black and white dots that appear on a television or screen when no clear signal is received.
Grammar: Used without an article, usually after a verb like see or get.
Patterns
- snow on the screen
The old television showed nothing but snow after the storm knocked down the antenna.
Turn the dial too far and you get snow instead of a picture.
Word forms
| third person singular | snows |
|---|---|
| past tense | snowed |
| past participle | snowed |
| -ing form | snowing |
Common combinations
- heavy snow
- Heavy snow is expected across the north by midnight.
- fresh snow
- Our boots left deep prints in the fresh snow.
- snow falls
- Snow falls early in the mountains, often by October.
- clear the snow
- Dad got up early to clear the snow from the driveway.
- snowed in
- We were snowed in for two days and ran out of bread.
- snowed under
- I'm snowed under with work this week, so I can't join you.
Synonyms and how they differ
- snowfall
- Snowfall names the event or amount of snow that falls, while snow is the substance itself.
- powder
- Powder is skiers' word for light, dry, fresh snow, which is only one kind of snow.
- sleet
- Sleet is a mix of rain and partly melted snow, so it is wetter and less soft than snow.
- flurry
- A flurry is a brief, light fall of snow, whereas snow can describe any amount.
Word family
Commonly confused: snow or sleet?
snow vs sleet
Sleet is half-melted snow mixed with rain; snow stays frozen as flakes.
Practice
Which sentence uses the verb sense of snow correctly?
Choose one answer.
As a verb, snow is intransitive and takes the empty subject it. The other options misuse snow as a transitive verb, as its own subject, or as a countable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “snow”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.