climate
noun
Simple meaning
The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
klymuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklaɪmət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time
“The dank climate of southern Wales.”
The long-term manifestations of weather and other atmospheric conditions in a given area or country, now usually represented by the statistical summary of its weather conditions during a period long enough to ensure that representative values are obtained (generally 30 years).
figuratively
The context in general of a particular political, moral, etc., situation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time
Used this way, climate is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
“The dank climate of southern Wales.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “climate of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: climate of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use climate
- “The dank climate of southern Wales.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Meteorology of climates and their phenomena.
Related to the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A change in the world's climate.
A change in the world's climate.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Any of the geographical zones loosely divided according to prevailing climate and latitude.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: weather in some location averaged over some long period of time
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.