Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


monsoon

mon-soon′

(mŏn-soōn′)
,
Noun.
[Malay
mūsim
, fr. Ar.
mausim
a time, season: cf. F.
monson
,
mousson
, Sr.
monzon
, Pg.
monção
, It.
monsone
.]
A wind blowing part of the year from one direction, alternating with a wind from the opposite direction; – a term applied particularly to periodical winds of the Indian Ocean, which blow from the southwest from the latter part of May to the middle of September, and from the northeast from about the middle of October to the middle of December.

Webster 1828 Edition


Monsoon

MONSOON'

,
Noun.
A periodical wind, blowing six months from the same quarter or point of the compass, then changing and blowing the same time from the opposite quarter. The monsoons prevail in the East Indies, and are called also trade winds. But we usually give the denomination of trade winds to those which blow the whole year from the same point, as the winds within the tropics on the Atlantic.

Definition 2024


monsoon

monsoon

English

Noun

monsoon (plural monsoons)

  1. Any of a number of winds associated with regions where most rain falls during a particular season.
  2. Tropical rainy season when the rain lasts for several months with few interruptions.
    • 2013 June 29, High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
      Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.
  3. The rains themselves.
  4. Entire meteorological systems with such characteristics.

Translations

References

  1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000 Houghton Mifflin
  2. A Dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English Platts.