What does snowbound mean?
Snowbound is an adjective describing a situation in which heavy or accumulated snow prevents travel, movement, or escape. It can refer to people stranded by a storm, vehicles unable to move, routes made impassable, or communities isolated by deep snow. The word is especially evocative because it suggests that snow has not merely fallen but has effectively closed in the surrounding landscape. In everyday use, it often carries a picturesque or dramatic quality, evoking remote mountains, winter roads, and severe storms, though it can also describe ordinary disruption caused by a heavy snowfall. Snowbound is related in form to the bound meaning confined or restrained, while the snow element identifies the specific force responsible. The term is useful when precision matters because it names both the obstruction and the resulting immobility.
adjectivePrevented from travelling or moving by an accumulation of snow; surrounded, isolated, or immobilized by snow.
- Unable to travel, leave, or move because of accumulated snow.
- Surrounded, isolated, or immobilized by snow.
"A snowbound village remained cut off from the rest of the country for several days."
"The mountain pass was snowbound for most of the week."
"Snowbound passengers waited at the station for the tracks to be cleared."
Snowbound means the snow has not merely covered the route—it has effectively closed it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of snowbound
Snowbound is an English compound formed from snow and bound, the past participle of bind. In the compound, bound carries the sense of being confined or restrained, so the word literally suggests being held fast by snow. Both components are Germanic in origin: snow continues Proto-Germanic *snaiz, while bound derives from bind, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bindaną.
How snowbound is actually used
Chiefly formal or literary. It can describe people, vehicles, places, or travel routes and is commonly used predicatively, as in "become snowbound," or attributively, as in "a snowbound village."
Easily confused with snowbound
Snowbound describes being prevented from moving by snow, whereas snowblind describes impaired vision caused by reflected ultraviolet light from snow.