What does wintry mean?
Wintry means characteristic of winter, especially cold, frosty, or sharply cold enough to suggest severe winter conditions. Writers commonly use it for winds, weather, days, nights, and landscapes, where it creates a vivid sense of biting cold, ice, snow, and seasonal bleakness. The word also has a figurative use for attitudes, expressions, or emotional responses that are cold, stern, distant, or unsympathetic. Compared with the general word cold, wintry is more evocative and literary, often suggesting conditions that are distinctly wintry rather than merely cool. It appears in both British and American English and is related to winter, with wintery serving as a variant spelling. Although wintry principally describes the weather of winter, its figurative applications make it useful for conveying both physical discomfort and emotional reserve. In descriptions of art or atmosphere, it often helps establish a scene dominated by cold, exposure, and austerity.
adjectiveCharacteristic of winter or intensely cold and frosty. It can also describe a scene, mood, or manner that conveys bleakness, emotional coldness, or lack of warmth.
- Characteristic of winter; cold, frosty, or wintry in temperature.
- Figuratively bleak, chilling, or emotionally unyielding.
"A wintry wind swept across the bare hillside, carrying ice crystals with it."
"They walked through the wintry streets toward the warmly lit station."
"Her response was wintry, precise, and completely devoid of sympathy."
Wintry is the word for weather that makes winter seem to have sharpened its teeth.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wintry come from?
Wintry is an English formation based on winter with the adjective-forming suffix -y. The word became established in English during the early modern period, when such formations were commonly used to describe qualities associated with a season, substance, or person. Its base is the Germanic word represented in English by winter, while the closely related spelling wintery is also recorded as a variant of the modern adjective.
Related word forms
How wintry is actually used
Wintry has a slightly literary or atmospheric tone. It is especially evocative when describing weather, landscapes, or figurative emotional coldness, rather than being the ordinary everyday term for low temperature.
Easily confused with wintry
Windy means characterized by strong wind, whereas wintry means cold or frosty, though the two can describe the same conditions.
Wintery is a variant spelling of wintry with the same meaning.