snowdrift

noun

snow·​drift ˈsnō-ˌdrift How to pronounce snowdrift (audio)
: a bank of drifted snow

Examples of snowdrift in a Sentence

The car was almost buried in a snowdrift.
Recent Examples on the Web Meteorologists warn that persistent snowdrift could hamper clean up efforts from the intense weekend blizzard. Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024 How Iowa has historically impacted presidential campaigns 01:45 The Iowa caucuses can launch campaigns onto the nomination or bury them beneath the snowdrifts. Caroline Linton, CBS News, 16 Jan. 2024 The blizzard of 1873 left snowdrifts a dozen feet high on some Indiana farms. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2023 Like other homeowners in the towns near Lake Tahoe, Mr. Culp was racing to remove massive snowdrifts from his roof. Eliza Fawcett, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2023 Rain then morphed into macadamia-nut-sized hail that pelted the stadium, leaving what looked like foot-high snowdrifts on the floor of each dugout. Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2023 The storm inundated Buffalo with more than 50 inches of snow from during Christmastime, caused snowdrifts of up to 15 feet and killed 15 Erie County residents in addition to the 31 people who died in Buffalo’s city limits. Laura Ly, CNN, 2 June 2023 In another scene, a group of doormen push white snowdrifts across the stage, then raise their shovels in the air to simulate the shape of Central Park’s Bow Bridge. Ingrid Abramovitch, ELLE Decor, 7 June 2023 His soldiers learned much from the Inuit, including building igloos, deciphering the meaning of snowdrifts, ice fishing, hunting and butchering caribou — and observing the moon dog and sun dog. Norimitsu Onishi Nasuna Stuart-Ulin, New York Times, 4 June 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'snowdrift.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of snowdrift was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near snowdrift

Cite this Entry

“Snowdrift.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snowdrift. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

snowdrift

noun
snow·​drift -ˌdrift How to pronounce snowdrift (audio)
: a bank of drifted snow

More from Merriam-Webster on snowdrift

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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