mon·soon (m n-s n )n.1. A wind system that influences large climatic regions and reverses direction seasonally. 2. a. A wind from the southwest or south that brings heavy rainfall to southern Asia in the summer. b. The rain that accompanies this wind.
[Obsolete Dutch monssoen, from Portuguese monção, from Arabic mawsim, season, from wasama, to mark; see wsm in Semitic roots.]
mon·soon al adj. |
monsoon Noun
1. a seasonal wind of S Asia which blows from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter
2. the rainy season when the SW monsoon blows, from about April to October [Arabic mawsim season]
monsoon (m n-s n )1. A system of winds that influences the climate of a large area and that reverses direction with the seasons. Monsoons are caused primarily by the much greater annual variation in temperature over large areas of land than over large areas of adjacent ocean water. This variation causes an excess of atmospheric pressure over the continents in the winter, and a deficit in the summer. The disparity causes strong winds to blow between the ocean and the land, bringing heavy seasonal rainfall. 2. In southern Asia, a wind that is part of such a system and that blows from the southwest in the summer and usually brings heavy rains. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | monsoon - a seasonal wind in southern Asia; blows from the southwest (bringing rain) in summer and from the northeast in winterair current, current of air, wind - air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure; "trees bent under the fierce winds"; "when there is no wind, row"; "the radioactivity was being swept upwards by the air current and out into the atmosphere" |
| 2. | monsoon - rainy season in southern Asia when the southwestern monsoon blows, bringing heavy rains |
| 3. | monsoon - any wind that changes direction with the seasonsrain, 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; "trees bent under the fierce winds"; "when there is no wind, row"; "the radioactivity was being swept upwards by the air current and out into the atmosphere" |
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