WINTRY (wintrier, wintriest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: wintrier    , wintriest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wintry mean? 

• WINTRY (adjective)
  The adjective WINTRY has 2 senses:

1. characteristic of or occurring in winter

2. devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain

  Familiarity information: WINTRY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WINTRY (adjective)

Comparative: wintrier   
Superlative: wintriest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of or occurring in winter

Synonyms:

wintery; wintry

Context example:

brown wintry grasses

Similar:

brumal; hibernal; hiemal (characteristic of or relating to winter)

winter-blooming; winter-flowering (of plants that bloom during the winter)

Antonym:

autumnal (of or characteristic of or occurring in autumn)

summery (belonging to or characteristic of or occurring in summer)

vernal (of or characteristic of or occurring in spring)

Derivation:

winter (the coldest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain

Synonyms:

frigid; frosty; frozen; glacial; icy; wintry

Context example:

wintry smile

Similar:

cold (extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion)

 Context examples 

How well I recollect the wintry ride!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When full of flowers they would doubtless look pretty; but now, at the latter end of January, all was wintry blight and brown decay.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The first of December was a wintry day indeed to them, for a bitter wind blew, snow fell fast, and the year seemed getting ready for its death.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

No light, nor movement, nor any sign of human aid could be seen, but far away the hoarse clangor of a heavy bell rose and fell upon the wintry air.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The wintry effects have led to a temperature drop of 72 degrees Farenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in the southern polar stratosphere over the last four years.

(Cassini Sees Dramatic Seasonal Changes on Titan, NASA)

It was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I thought of our snug little huts, our supplies of meat and oil and moss and firewood, and I knew that we could never survive the wintry sea and the great storms which were to come.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He plunged into the swimming tank or went hunting with the Judge’s sons; he escorted Mollie and Alice, the Judge’s daughters, on long twilight or early morning rambles; on wintry nights he lay at the Judge’s feet before the roaring library fire; he carried the Judge’s grandsons on his back, or rolled them in the grass, and guarded their footsteps through wild adventures down to the fountain in the stable yard, and even beyond, where the paddocks were, and the berry patches.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I landed in London on a wintry autumn evening.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Sundays were dreary days in that wintry season.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)