MONSOON

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does monsoon mean? 

• MONSOON (noun)
  The noun MONSOON has 3 senses:

1. a seasonal wind in southern Asia; blows from the southwest (bringing rain) in summer and from the northeast in winter

2. rainy season in southern Asia when the southwestern monsoon blows, bringing heavy rains

3. any wind that changes direction with the seasons

  Familiarity information: MONSOON used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MONSOON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A seasonal wind in southern Asia; blows from the southwest (bringing rain) in summer and from the northeast in winter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("monsoon" is a kind of...):

air current; current of air; wind (air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Rainy season in southern Asia when the southwestern monsoon blows, bringing heavy rains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("monsoon" is a kind of...):

rainy season (one of the two seasons in tropical climates)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any wind that changes direction with the seasons

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("monsoon" is a kind of...):

rain; rainfall (water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere)

air current; current of air; wind (air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure)

 Context examples 

This is an unexpected finding because many of the earlier records were based on the idea that only summer monsoon rainfall was recorded by these minerals.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)

But it’s the projected reductions in pre-monsoon river flows and changes in the monsoon that will hit hardest, throwing urban water systems and food and energy production off kilter.

(Bulk of Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2100, SciDev.Net)

Rice was domesticated from wild species that grew in tropical regions, where it adapted to endure monsoons and waterlogging.

(Grains in the rain, National Science Foundation)

El Niño shifts the growing season around the tropics, causes winter drought in Africa and South America, and changes the timing of monsoon rainfalls in Asia.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

But he, being a man well experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid us all prepare against a storm, which accordingly happened the day following: for the southern wind, called the southern monsoon, began to set in.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

In most tropical regions, two factors control the timing of the rainy season: monsoon winds (a seasonal change of direction in prevailing winds) and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a belt of converging trade winds around the equator that shifts north or south with the seasons.

(New Study Shows the Amazon Makes Its Own Rainy Season, NASA)

The stalagmites were found to be more sensitive to changes through winter rainfall than summer monsoon.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)