People share different relationships with rain; sometimes, it may be soothing, or it can ruin an entire event that you had planned. In any case, you’ll need words to describe rain to convey your emotions or simply to describe the state of the weather.
The words to describe rain that you use can vary depending on the type of rain, for example if it is light or heavy rain. You can use words to describe the sound of rain as well.
Here are 25 rain-related words that you can add to your vocabulary or your descriptions of rain:
5 words to describe rainy weather
Rainy weather is either welcomed or unwelcomed, depending on the person.
Sometimes, it’s the perfect chance to snuggle up with a loved one and watch some movies; other times, it can ruin your plans and make you feel sad or depressed.
When you want to talk about the state of the weather, you can use any of these five words to describe rain:
01Dismal
The word dismal describes a situation that causes depression or sadness. Dismal weather conditions, such as rainy weather, can make you feel sad, dispirited, and moody. It can put you in an overall poor mood.
This word is perfect to use when you are already depressed or when you’ve had a plan ruined that includes an outdoor activity.
“The dismal rain washed out the grounds for the baseball game, so I guess we’ll just have to see if we can get a refund for our tickets.”
Photo by Savin Madeleine on reshot
02Gloomy
Gloomy is similar in meaning to dismal; gloomy weather can cause depression and poor moods, but the difference is that the gloomy, rainy weather can cause the sky to become dark/grey, even if it is early in the day.
“Even though it’s just 1 PM, the gloomy weather makes it feel like it’s late in the afternoon.”
03Misty
Misty rain refers to times during which the rain causes fog to form, and the visibility is poor for drivers.
This can happen at any time of the day, and it makes driving very difficult. The lack of visibility will depend on how thick or dense the mist and fog become.
It can also be very cold during this time, and it can make for a nice movie night.
“My favorite times are misty afternoons when I can enjoy drinking hot cocoa with my boyfriend.”
04Overcast
Overcast is a word that you use before the rain actually begins. This is when the sky is grey; the winds pick up, and the air feels cool.
“Going to the beach today is probably not a good idea. There is overcast, and those clouds look like they could burst at any point.”
Photo by marmax – under CC0 license
05Tepid
The word tepid is on the other side of the rainy weather spectrum. In the summer, when the days are hot, the rain is likely as warm as the weather. It might even cool down slightly.
This is the perfect word to use for rain that kids enjoy; it means they love to play in the rain, and the rain doesn’t last very long. It’s not the type of rain that can ruin your plans.
“I didn’t even need a raincoat for this tepid rain.”
For sound of rain
The sound of rain is comforting to some people, but whenever there is a storm or heavy rain, it can be quite terrifying for others (especially children).
Here are five words to describe rain and the sounds it makes on your roof or against the pavement:
06Gentle
You will hear gentle rain sounds when the rainfall is light or moderate. These sounds are normally comforting, and sometimes, you don’t even notice it because of how light the rainfall is!
“If I didn’t move my curtain, I wouldn’t be able to tell that it was raining! The raindrops are falling so gently on the roof.”
Photo by Joel Overbeck on unsplash
07Pattering
Pattering rain describes light, repeated tapping sounds against a surface, like a roof, window, porch, or pavement. This word is also associated with light to moderate rainfall.
“The sounds of the raindrops pattering on the window panes were fascinating to my new puppy.”
08Pounding
Pounding rain is not so light or comforting. This word is associated with heavy rains that you can hear clearly. These sounds may be due to a storm or hurricane; they can be louder than the sounds of your television or music.
“The pounding rain on the roof makes it sound like the roof is about to cave in.”
Photo by sasint under pixabay license
09Soothing
The best type of rain is, without a doubt, soothing rain that can help you to fall asleep. Soothing rain allows you to snuggle up under a blanket and feel calm.
This type of rain is light, and it doesn’t make hard pounding or pattering sounds on the roof.
It is good to use this word when the rain puts you in a good mood or feels comforting to you.
“The sound of the rain was just so soothing last night that I have no clue when I dozed off.”
10Unsettling
Rain can be scary sometimes, and the perfect word to use for this type of rain is “unsettling.” This is the type of rain that comes with heavy showers, loud winds, and howling sounds that can make you feel uneasy.
“I hope this hurricane passes quickly. The sound of the rain is unsettling to me and the girls.”
Heavy rains are the worst, without a doubt. They ruin plans, make people feel uneasy, and can even cause flooding or landslides!
These are five words to describe rain that is heavy and terrible:
11Excessive
Excessive is a word that you can use for rainfall because it continues for a long time, and it doesn’t seem to let up. There is so much rain that puddles and mini ponds start to form in the streets.
It can flood your driveway; even worse, it can cause water to seep into your house through the bottom parts of your doors.
“The excessive rainfall this weekend drove many people to evacuate their homes, and they were forced to stay in temporary shelters.”
Photo by StockSnap – under CC0 license
12Pouring
Pouring rain is heavy rain that seemingly falls at the same rate/speed for the entire storm. It is completely different from a drizzle; it is too much to walk in, even with an umbrella.
“I was held up in my office for nearly two hours. It seemed like this pouring rain wanted to keep us here all night.”
13Strong
You can describe heavy rain as strong when the raindrops are heavy and pound on the roof. The rain may also cause damage; it can even sting your skin if you try to walk through it.
“The strong rains over the weekend ruined my backyard garden, so I’ll have to replant all of my flowers.”
Photo by Asheesh on reshot
14Torrential
Torrential rain is associated with storms and hurricanes; the word refers to rain that falls for a long time in copious quantities. It is good to use this word when the rain falls very hard and fast; everything gets soaked in a matter of seconds.
“It goes without saying that the brunch is cancelled. The weather report predicted torrential rains, and we wouldn’t want to be caught in that.”
15Violent
Violent rain is very destructive; it can cause damage to buildings and other types of infrastructure. Violent rain can cause leaks, breakage, cracks, and all sorts of damage to your home.
This type of heavy rain can cause flash flooding, and it may even result in loss of livestock or life.
“The violent rains on Tuesday were the worst I’ve seen in my 15 years of living in this city.”
5 words to describe rain shower
Rain showers aren’t the same as other types of rain. They occur in short bursts, and they can be very light or very heavy.
Here are five words to describe rain showers:
16Driving
Driving rain is rain that falls very hard and fast; it can be accompanied by a sudden burst of winds. These are short-lived rain showers.
“It was nice and sunny in the town when we first passed, but now, these driving rains on the highway are starting to dampen the road trip.”
Photo by Ric Rodrigues under Pexels License
17Intermittent
You can use the word intermittent when you want to describe rain that happens at random intervals. They’re not steady or continuous, and they seem to start and stop randomly.
“If I were you, I’d walk with my umbrella. The weather report predicts intermittent showers for today.”
18Pelting
Pelting rain showers happen randomly, but they fall very hard and quickly. All of a sudden, it may seem like a random storm has started, but it will let up at some point in the day.
“It wasn’t raining when I got here, but as soon as I entered the car park, the pelting showers soaked me completely.”
Photo by reza shayestehpour on Unsplash
19Settled
Settled weather is the type of weather that stays the same throughout the day. Even though there are bursts of showers, it can stay from morning till night; the rain may continue through to the next day as well.
“I made sure to walk with my raincoat because the day is overcast, and the rains have settled.”
20Sudden
Rain showers can occur even if the meteorologist didn’t predict it; this is because the weather changes very quickly.
You can use this word when you’ve had no indication that you should’ve brought rain gear, and the rain showers start suddenly.
“I was surprised by the sudden rain because the day was so bright and sunny at first.”
5 words to describe drizzling rain
Drizzling rain is super light, and sometimes, it takes a while for you to even notice that it’s happening. It’s the type of rain through which you can walk, getting soaked very slowly. It barely has a noticeable impact. It usually ends quickly, or it is followed by very heavy rainfall.
21Incessant
Incessant rain drizzle can continue without any pauses, and it doesn’t increase in speed or quantity. It drizzles for quite some time and stops at irregular moments.
“It’s just a drizzle, but it’s incessant and annoying. I don’t want to get wet at all.”
Image from Pexels – under CC0 license
22Lessening
Lessening rain drizzle can occur after a heavy or moderate downpour, especially when it’s about to stop raining. The raindrops have lessened in size, and the sky slowly starts to clear up.
“It seems like we can go to the movies after all. The rain seems to be lessening.”
23Light
Light rain will only feel like a sprinkle, and it may only form a few water spots on your clothes or the pavement. It might increase, but it will not go into the realm of moderate or heavy rain. Light rain generally occurs in the form of a rain shower or a single burst of rain.
“We can still head to the supermarket. The rain is light and will probably stop soon.”
Short drizzles end within a few minutes, and in no time, all signs of the rain will have dried up by the sun or wind. These rains generally have no impact, and sometimes, you may even forget that it rained at all that day.
“We’ve had a pretty sunny summer, with only a few short drizzles here and there.”
25Thin
Thin drizzles are those that don’t have large droplets or plenty of droplets. It ends very quickly, and it is barely noticeable.
“I was hoping for some water for my garden, but the rain has been very thin as of late.”
Lastly
Do you want the rain to stay? Or, do you want it to go away and come back another day? Now, you have the perfect words to describe rain to use to convey your feelings about the different types of rain that you can experience throughout the year.
