Meaning & use
whiteout
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A snowstorm or thick snow-covered conditions in which nothing can be seen because everything looks white.
Grammar: Countable for an event: a whiteout; also uncountable: travel in whiteout.
Patterns
- in a whiteout
- caught in a whiteout
The skiers were caught in a whiteout and had to stop.
Drivers were warned of whiteout conditions on the pass.
In a whiteout, the sky and ground look the same.
noununcountabletrademark
A white correction fluid used to cover mistakes in writing.
Grammar: Often used as a brand-like word; uncountable.
Patterns
- use whiteout
She painted whiteout over the typo.
He dabbed on whiteout and wrote again.
Word forms
| plural | whiteouts |
|---|
Common combinations
- whiteout conditions
- Whiteout conditions closed the road.
- caught in a whiteout
- The climbers were caught in a whiteout.
- complete whiteout
- A complete whiteout hid the trail.
- use whiteout
- I used whiteout on the form.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blizzard
- A heavy snowstorm with wind; whiteout stresses the loss of visibility.
- snowstorm
- Any storm with heavy snow, visibility need not vanish.
Commonly confused: whiteout or blackout?
whiteout vs blackout
A blackout is loss of power or darkness, while a whiteout is loss of visibility in snow.
Practice
Hikers say a whiteout is dangerous mainly because:
Choose one answer.
In a whiteout everything looks white, so depth and direction are lost.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “whiteout”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.