Meaning & use
windburn
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
redness, soreness, and dryness of the skin caused by strong cold wind.
Grammar: Uncountable: you say 'windburn', not 'a windburn' or 'windburns'.
Patterns
- get windburn
- have windburn
- suffer from windburn
After skiing all day without a face covering, she had windburn on her cheeks.
The cyclists used a thick cream to protect their skin from windburn.
His lips were cracked and sore from windburn.
Common combinations
- get windburn
- You can get windburn on a windy beach even when it is cloudy.
- windburn on your face
- He came back from the mountains with windburn on his face.
- protect against windburn
- A scarf helps protect against windburn in winter.
- suffer from windburn
- Sailors often suffer from windburn after days at sea.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chapping
- Chapping is cracked, rough skin from cold or dryness, while windburn specifically results from wind exposure.
- wind chap
- A less common term for the same condition; windburn is the standard word in everyday use.
Word family
- windburnt adjective
- Having skin damaged by wind; e.g., 'his windburnt cheeks'.
Commonly confused: windburn or sunburn? windburn or frostbite?
windburn vs sunburn
Sunburn is caused by ultraviolet radiation from the sun, not by wind; the symptoms can look similar, but the cause is different.
windburn vs frostbite
Frostbite is freezing damage to tissue, which is much more serious than windburn.
Practice
After a long walk in the cold wind, my face was red and sore from ______.
Choose one answer.
Windburn fits because the redness and soreness come from cold wind. Sunburn would require strong sunlight, frostbite is freezing damage, and chill is a feeling of cold, not skin damage.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “windburn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.