heatwave

UK/ˈhitˌweɪv/US/ˈhitˌweɪv/

nounB1+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,930 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: heatwaves

A heatwave is days on end of dangerously hot weather. A summer heatwave, the heatwave broke, a record heatwave.

The definition is local rather than absolute — a heatwave in Britain is a temperature Spain would call ordinary — because harm depends on what people and buildings are used to. Nights that stay hot do most of the damage, since the body never gets to cool down.

Definitions of heatwave

1nounheatwaveA long spell of dangerously hot weather.B1+
“During the heatwave, the city opened cool rooms for elderly people.”

heatwave is a weather event.

Also accepted in games: heat wave

Where it comes from

From heat + wave.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Nature & Weather, Weather & Seasons

Practise this word

heatwave in the wild

A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather that lasts for multiple days.
Heat wave
The 1955 United Kingdom heatwave and associated drought were severe weather events that occurred over all parts of the country.
1955 United Kingdom heatwave
By the time the heatwaves had ended in late October 2010, about $500 billion of damage was done, in the Northern Hemisphere alone.
2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves
The 2013 heatwave in the United Kingdom and Ireland was a period of unusually hot weather primarily in July 2013, with isolated warm days in June and August.
2013 Great Britain and Ireland heatwave
At 19 days, the July heatwave was the longest continuous period of hot weather in the UK since August 1997.
2013 Great Britain and Ireland heatwave

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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