drought

(drout) also drouth (drouth)

1. A long period of abnormally low rainfall, especially one that adversely affects growing or living conditions.

2. A prolonged dearth or shortage.

[Middle English, from Old English drūgoth; akin to drȳge, dry.]

drought′y adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

drought

(draʊt)

1. (Environmental Science) a prolonged period of scanty rainfall

2. a prolonged shortage

3. an archaic or dialect word for thirst Archaic and Scot form: drouth

[Old English drūgoth; related to Dutch droogte; see dry]

ˈdroughty adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

drought

(draʊt)

n.

1. a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops.

2. an extended shortage; scarcity; dearth.

3. Archaic. thirst.

Sometimes, drouth (drouth).

[before 1000; Middle English; Old English drūgath <drūg- (base of drȳge dry)]

drought′y, adj. drought•i•er, drought•i•est.

drought′i•ness, n.

pron: Because drought and drouth represent two phonetic developments of the same Old English word and are pronounced (drout) and (drouth) respectively, the latter is not a mispronunciation of drought. The now unproductive suffix -th¹ and its alternate form -t were formerly used to derive nouns from adjectives or verbs, resulting in such pairs as drouth/drought from dry, and highth/height (the former now obsolete) from high. In American English, drought is common everywhere in educated speech and is the usual printed form.

drought

(drout)

A long period of abnormally low rainfall.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	drought - a shortage of rainfall; "farmers most affected by the drought hope that there may yet be sufficient rain early in the growing season" drouth dryness, waterlessness, xerotes - the condition of not containing or being covered by a liquid (especially water)
	2.	drought - a prolonged shortage; "when England defeated Pakistan it ended a ten-year drought" drouth period, period of time, time period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period"

drought

noun

1. water shortage, dryness, dry weather, dry spell, aridity, lack of rain, drouth (Scot.), parchedness Drought and famines have killed up to two million people.
water shortage flood, deluge, downpour, inundation

2. shortage, lack, deficit, deficiency, want, need, shortfall, scarcity, dearth, insufficiency The Western world was suffering through the oil drought.
shortage abundance, profusion

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

جَفَافجَفاف، قَحْط، مَحْل

sucho

tørke

Dürre

ανομβρία ξηρασία

sequía

kuivuus

sécheresse sècheresse

suša

aszály

langvarandi òurrviîriþurrkar

siccità siccit...

日照り

가뭄

sausra

sausums

suša

torka

ความแห้งแล้ง

kuraklık

hạn hán

干旱旱灾

drought

[draʊt] N → sequía f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

drought

[ˈdraʊt] n → sécheresse f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

drought

n → Dürre f; three droughts in as many years → drei Dürrekatastrophen in ebenso vielen Jahren

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

drought

[draʊt] n → siccità

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

drought

(draut) noun

(a period of) lack of rain. The reservoir dried up completely during the drought.

drought

→ جَفَاف sucho tørke Dürre ξηρασία sequía kuivuus sécheresse suša siccità 日照り 가뭄 droogte tørke susza seca засуха torka ความแห้งแล้ง kuraklık hạn hán 旱灾

drought

n. sequía.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox; "there is going to be a great drought, so I jumped down here in order to be sure to have water by me.

View in context

``Not more than a drought of St Dunstan's fountain will allay,'' answered the priest; ``something there is of a whizzing in my brain, and of instability in my legs, but you shall presently see both pass away.''

View in context

Fe -- Change in Landscape -- Geology -- Tooth of extinct Horse -- Relation of the Fossil and recent Quadrupeds of North and South America -- Effects of a great Drought -- Parana -- Habits of the Jaguar -- Scissor-beak -- Kingfisher, Parrot, and Scissor-tail -- Revolution -- Buenos Ayres State of Government.

View in context

The house occupied by the family was on the slope of a mountain, and after a long drought there was a terrible tempest which not only raised the river to a great height but loosened the surface of the mountain so that a great landslide took place.

View in context

And every tongue, through utter drought, Was withered at the root; We could not speak, no more than if We had been choked with soot.

View in context

oh, ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye, --though long parched by the dead drought of the earthy life, --in ye, men yet may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them.

View in context

He must have been born in some time of general drought and famine, or upon one of those fast days for which his state is famous.

View in context

Conventional figures spring to my pen, but every one of them is true; he was flowers in spring, he was sunshine after rain, he was rain following long months of drought. I slept admirably after all; and I awoke to see the overturned toilet-table, and to thrill as I remembered there was one fellow-creature with whom I could fraternize without fear of a rude reopening of my every wound.

View in context

Behind it lay a few desolate fields, and then the brown heath-clad summit of the hill; before it (enclosed by stone walls, and entered by an iron gate, with large balls of grey granite - similar to those which decorated the roof and gables - surmounting the gate-posts) was a garden, - once stocked with such hard plants and flowers as could best brook the soil and climate, and such trees and shrubs as could best endure the gardener's torturing shears, and most readily assume the shapes he chose to give them, - now, having been left so many years untilled and untrimmed, abandoned to the weeds and the grass, to the frost and the wind, the rain and the drought, it presented a very singular appearance indeed.

View in context

But a plant on the edge of a desert is said to struggle for life against the drought, though more properly it should be said to be dependent on the moisture.

View in context

Drought is our great enemy, and the two last summers each contained five weeks of blazing, cloudless heat when all the ditches dried up and the soil was like hot pastry.

View in context

"Oh, water is even more scarce than wine, your excellency, -- there has been such a drought."

View in context