Weather: Skies & Seasons — A2 Essential Words
Ten essential A2 words (Weather) with the complete apparatus: pronunciation, simple definitions, natural American examples, collocations, family, the common mistake and spoken usage — plus a 15-question practice quiz. Mark your status on every word.
frost /frɒst/ noun A2 Weather
Meaning: The thin white layer of ice that forms on surfaces on very cold nights; weather cold enough to produce it.
Example: Frost covered the car windows.
Another example: The first frost came early.
Collocations: frost on the grass · the first frost · frost warning
Synonyms: ice layer, freeze, rime
Word family: frosts (n pl) · frosty (adj) · frosting (n — cake icing!)
⚠ Common mistake: Its verb-form frosts cakes: frosting is sugar's version of the same white coat. Drivers scrape its honest form at 7 a.m.
🗣 In spoken American English: Gardeners plant by its last spring date.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
degrees /dɪˈɡriːz/ noun A2 Weather
Meaning: Units for measuring temperature (and angles); also university qualifications (a degree). We say 'twenty degrees' for the temperature.
Example: It's thirty degrees outside.
Another example: How many degrees is it today?
Collocations: thirty degrees · degrees Celsius · below zero degrees
Synonyms: temperature units, °
Word family: degrees (n pl) · degree (n singular)
⚠ Common mistake: America measures weather in Fahrenheit degrees; most of the world in Celsius — conversion math is a traveler's rite. The symbol ° rides along silently.
🗣 In spoken American English: 'Six degrees of separation' made it social math's poetry.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
drizzle /ˈdrɪzəl/ noun / verb A2 Weather
Meaning: Light rain falling in very small drops; to rain this way. Also to pour a thin line of sauce over food.
Example: A light drizzle wet the streets.
Another example: It drizzled all morning.
Collocations: light drizzle · drizzle all day · a drizzle of honey (food)
Synonyms: light rain, sprinkle, mist-rain
Antonyms: downpour
Word family: drizzles (v) · drizzly (adj)
⚠ Common mistake: Seattle and London keep its franchise. Chefs drizzling oil borrowed the sky's gentlest setting.
🗣 In spoken American English: It ruins hairstyles too slowly to justify umbrellas — its special cruelty.
Register: Neutral — weather staple.
thermometer /θərˈmɒmɪtər/ noun A2 Weather
Meaning: An instrument that measures temperature — of the air, the body, or food.
Example: The thermometer says 90 degrees.
Another example: She checked the baby's temperature with a thermometer.
Collocations: the thermometer · a thermometer reading · thermometer says
Synonyms: temperature gauge, probe
Word family: thermometers (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: Fever and weather share its verdicts. Kitchen probes save turkeys; forehead strips save school mornings.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its red line climbing is summer's speedometer.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
mild /maɪld/ adjective A2 Weather
Meaning: Not too hot and not too cold; gentle and pleasant (weather); also not strong in taste, and gentle in character.
Example: We had a mild winter.
Another example: The sauce is mild, not spicy.
Collocations: a mild winter · mild weather · mild sauce
Synonyms: gentle, moderate, pleasant
Antonyms: severe, extreme, spicy
Word family: milder (comparative) · mildly (adv) · mildness (n)
⚠ Common mistake: One word serves weather, salsa, and personalities. 'Mild' winters still make news in Minnesota by December's standards.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its opposite in sauce menus is a dare; in weather, a warning.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
chilly /ˈtʃɪli/ adjective A2 Weather
Meaning: Rather cold, in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable; unpleasantly cool.
Example: It's chilly tonight — take a sweater.
Another example: A chilly wind blew.
Collocations: chilly tonight · a chilly wind · feel chilly
Synonyms: cool, crisp, nippy (informal)
Antonyms: warm, hot
Word family: chillier (comparative) · chill (n/v) · chilly (adv in names)
⚠ Common mistake: Between cool (nice) and cold (serious) sits chilly (sweater weather). Not to be confused with chili, the spicy stew — one letter, one pepper.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its evenings sell hot chocolate by the stadium.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
overcast /ˈəʊvərkɑːst/ adjective A2 Weather
Meaning: Covered with clouds; grey and without sun (a sky or a day).
Example: The sky is overcast today.
Another example: An overcast morning kept the beach empty.
Collocations: overcast sky · overcast day · be overcast
Synonyms: cloudy, grey, dull
Antonyms: sunny, clear
Word family: overcast (adj)
⚠ Common mistake: Forecasters' most poetic word. Photographers secretly love it — clouds are nature's softbox for faces.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its greys paint Seattle in every film.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
stormy /ˈstɔːrmi/ adjective A2 Weather
Meaning: With strong winds and rain and thunder; also (of relationships and meetings) full of loud argument.
Example: A stormy night kept ships in port.
Another example: They had a stormy marriage.
Collocations: stormy weather · stormy night · a stormy meeting
Synonyms: wild, tempestuous, rough
Antonyms: calm, peaceful
Word family: stormier (comparative) · storm (n)
⚠ Common mistake: Weather gave the metaphor: stormy seas, stormy debates, stormy exits. Sailors and spouses both read the signs.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its clouds gather in every forecast's drama shot.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
snowfall /ˈsnəʊfɔːl/ noun A2 Weather
Meaning: The amount of snow that falls in a period of time; an occasion of snow falling.
Example: The snowfall reached ten inches.
Another example: A heavy snowfall closed the schools.
Collocations: heavy snowfall · snowfall of · first snowfall
Synonyms: snowstorm (with wind), snow shower
Word family: snowfalls (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: News measures it in inches and school closures. Ski towns advertise its totals like harvests.
🗣 In spoken American English: Its first of the year is every northern child's holiday preview.
Register: Neutral — weather staple.
heatwave /ˈhiːtweɪv/ noun A2 Weather
Meaning: A long period of unusually hot weather, lasting days or weeks, that can be dangerous for health.
Example: The heatwave lasted two weeks.
Another example: Drink water during the heatwave.
Collocations: a heatwave · during the heatwave · heatwave warning
Synonyms: hot spell, scorching period
Antonyms: cold snap
Word family: heatwaves (n pl)
⚠ Common mistake: Written as one word or two ('heat wave'). Its American capitals are Phoenix and Las Vegas, where it is less news than season.
🗣 In spoken American English: Fans and pools sell out in its first forty-eight hours.
Register: Neutral — weather essential.
Practice — Weather: Skies & Seasons
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