RAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rain mean? 

• RAIN (noun)
  The noun RAIN has 3 senses:

1. water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere

2. drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds

3. anything happening rapidly or in quick successive

  Familiarity information: RAIN used as a noun is uncommon.

• RAIN (verb)
  The verb RAIN has 1 sense:

1. precipitate as rain

  Familiarity information: RAIN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

rain; rainfall

Hypernyms ("rain" is a kind of...):

downfall; precipitation (the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist))

Meronyms (parts of "rain"):

raindrop (a drop of rain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rain"):

monsoon (any wind that changes direction with the seasons)

rainstorm (a storm with rain)

cloudburst; deluge; downpour; pelter; soaker; torrent; waterspout (a heavy rain)

drizzle; mizzle (very light rain; stronger than mist but less than a shower)

rain shower; shower (a brief period of precipitation)

Derivation:

rain (precipitate as rain)

rainy ((of weather) wet by periods of rain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

rain; rainwater

Hypernyms ("rain" is a kind of...):

fresh water; freshwater (water that is not salty)

Derivation:

rain (precipitate as rain)

rainy ((of weather) wet by periods of rain)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Anything happening rapidly or in quick successive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pelting; rain

Context example:

a pelting of insults

Hypernyms ("rain" is a kind of...):

chronological sequence; chronological succession; sequence; succession; successiveness (a following of one thing after another in time)

• RAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rain    ... he / she / it rains   
Past simple: rained   
Past participle: rained   
-ing form: raining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Precipitate as rain

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

rain; rain down

Context example:

If it rains much more, we can expect some flooding

Hypernyms (to "rain" is one way to...):

come down; fall; precipitate (fall from clouds)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rain"):

drizzle; mizzle (rain lightly)

shower; shower down (rain abundantly)

patter; pitter-patter; spatter; spit; sprinkle (rain gently)

pelt; pour; rain buckets; rain cats and dogs; stream (rain heavily)

Sentence frames:

It is ----ing
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

It was raining all day long

Derivation:

rain (water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere)

rain (drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds)

 Context examples 

"The rain must go somewhere," I repeated.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Don't shut the door:—oh, don't, for God's sake! I must; the rain is driving in— Tell the young ladies. Let me see them— Indeed, I will not.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It's all on my way, you know, and it rains, they say.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

How well I recollect it, on a cold grey afternoon, with a dull sky, threatening rain!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Blows were raining upon him from all sides.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

They promised to come at twelve, only it rained; but now, as it is so fine, I dare say they will be here soon.”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The rain was a mere trifle, and Anne was most sincere in preferring a walk with Mr Elliot.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Imagine a place where the weather forecast is always the same: scorching temperatures, relentlessly sunny, and with absolutely zero chance of rain.

(Water Is Destroyed, Then Reborn in Ultrahot Jupiters, NASA/JPL)

What were rain and storm to me?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Thanks to new research, that could soon change — good news for a world in which rains are increasing in both frequency and intensity.

(Grains in the rain, National Science Foundation)