English Words for "Rain"

You may have seen recent news reports about flooding caused by heavy rains in Southern California. Let's take a look today at some English words related to rain.

And being so small, they pass through the sewage filters and straight out into our rivers and seas, especially at times of heavy rainfall.

Captions 58-60, TEDxBristol: Why Plastic Pollution is Personal | Natalie Fee

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Rain is the most general term for water falling from clouds out of the sky. The word "rainfall" is, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a steady fall of rain, as opposed to rain falling very briefly. In many cases, however, the words are interchangeable. You'll more likely hear about "the amount of rainfall" in a weather report.

There is freedom within, there is freedom without... trying to catch a deluge in a paper cup.

Captions 3-4, Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande: Don't Dream It's Over

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The noun "deluge" can mean a flood, but in its secondary meaning, it's defined as "a steady falling of water from the sky in significant quantity" and "a drenching rain." So if you want to mean a very, very heavy rain, deluge is a good word to pick. Notice that it is pronounced in two syllables with a soft "g."

Occasional strong downpours wash over the land during the summer and dry river beds fill up for a short time.

Captions 6-7, The Last Paradises: America's National Parks

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A downpour can generally mean anything pouring downward, but is also used to specifically mean a heavy rain. But it's not as heavy as a deluge, which may be flood-related.

There is constant rain, freezing rain, cloudbursts, steady rain, drizzle, mist, thundershowers, summer rain, winter rain, and pouring rain.

Captions 10-12, Piggeldy and Frederick: Rain

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A cloudburst is a sudden heavy rain that probably does not last a long time. A drizzle, on the other hand, is a fine misty rain—which brings us to mist: Mist is a rain that is so fine that the rainwater is nearly suspended in the air, and it's a bit like walking through a heavy cloud. Mist is like a heavier version of fog. A thundershower is a rain accompanied by thunder and its scientific cause—lightning.

April showers bring May flowers.

Caption 20, Sigrid: Spring Musings

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The term "thundershower" contains the word "shower," and much like the showers that we take when washing ourselves, is a kind of rain of short duration.

Back in the Yosemite Valley, the precipitation falls in the form of rain.

Caption 16, Project Earth: California, Unknown Beauty

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Precipitation is the scientific term for moisture that falls from the sky to earth. It can mean rain, snow, hail, sleet, or mist.

Another noun related to rain is sprinkle, which is related to sprinkler, a device which distributes water through hoses in gardens and on farms. A sprinkle suggests, in this context, a very light rain. Sometimes downfall is also used to mean rain, although it is more often used in a political context to mean a fall from power.

Further Learning
Watch the full length Piggledy and Frederick video above, as it's all about rain. You can also go to Yabla English and look up the other rain vocabulary words (cloudburst, deluge, downpour, drizzle, precipitation, rainfall, shower, and thundershower) to see them used in different contexts.