rain

/reɪn/

/reɪn/

Other forms: rains; rained; raining

Rain is what makes you go running for your umbrella. It's that water that comes down from sky when the dark clouds roll in.

You can also use rain as a verb — as in the expression "Don't rain on my parade," which means don't ruin my good time by giving me bad news. You can also describe anything that comes down quickly and in quantity as something that rains down. On New Year's Eve, confetti rains down in Times Square. If you're unfortunate enough to find yourself in a war zone, you might hear bombs raining down around you.

Definitions of rain

1. noun

   water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
   synonyms: rainfall

   types:

   rainstorm

   a storm with rain

   cloudburst, deluge, downpour, pelter, soaker, torrent, waterspout

   a heavy rain

   drizzle, mizzle

   very light rain; stronger than mist but less than a shower

   rain shower, shower

   a brief period of precipitation

   monsoon

   heavy rains accompanied by wind, typical of the rainy season in southern Asia

   equinoctial storm, line storm

   a violent rainstorm near the time of an equinox

   thundershower

   a short rainstorm accompanied by thunder and lightning

   scattering, sprinkle, sprinkling

   a light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby

   type of:

   downfall, precipitation

   the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist)
2. noun

   drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds
   synonyms: rainwater

   type of:

   fresh water, freshwater

   water that is not salty
3. noun

   anything happening rapidly or in quick successive
   synonyms: pelting

   type of:

   chronological sequence, chronological succession, sequence, succession, successiveness

   a following of one thing after another in time
4. verb

   precipitate as rain
   “If it rains much more, we can expect some flooding”

   synonyms: rain down

   types:

   drizzle, mizzle

   rain lightly

   shower, shower down

   rain abundantly

   patter, pitter-patter, spatter, spit, sprinkle

   rain gently

   pelt, pour, rain buckets, rain cats and dogs, stream

   rain heavily

   sheet

   come down as if in sheets

   sluice, sluice down

   pour as if from a sluice

   type of:

   come down, fall, precipitate

   fall from clouds