rainfall

nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,743 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: rainfalls

Rainfall is the amount of water that falls from the sky in a place. Annual rainfall, heavy rainfall.

It is measured in millimetres of depth rather than in volume, which is why the figure works anywhere. Average rainfall says almost nothing about whether it arrives when the crops need it.

Definitions of rainfall

1nounrainfallThe amount of water that falls from the sky in a place.B1+
“The rainfall that August was three times the average.”

rainfall is a measure.

Where it comes from

Rain plus fall; the compound has named the measurement since gauges became common in the eighteenth century.

From rain + fall.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

rainfall in the wild

The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Wet season
Kathleen killed at least nine people in the state from heavy rainfall, with severe flooding affecting the city of Ocotillo.
List of California hurricanes
Tropical Storm Nora in 1997 entered the state, producing gale-force winds and heavy rainfall that led to four traffic deaths.
List of California hurricanes
In Georgia and South Carolina, the rainfall alleviated drought conditions.
Hurricane Charley (1986)
In the country, the rainfall caused widespread flooding, causing two rivers to exceed their banks.
Hurricane Charley (1986)

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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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