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whiteout

whiteout

7 8.0
A weather condition when snow, fog and clouds make it hard to see
  • noun
  • /ˈwaɪtˌaʊt/
  • UK
translation icon : pérdida total de visibilidad
  • On the drive back, I was hit with a freak spring blizzard, almost a whiteout.
  • whiteout conditions
  • lost in a whiteout
  • complete whiteout

Examples

  • In January, whiteouts shut down the highways, and the outside world takes on a quality very much like oxygen: we know it exists all around us, but we can't see it.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Had we had whiteout conditions or poor weather, I would have used more flash.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Bad visibility turned into a whiteout for a few seconds.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • There's a whiteout coming up.

  • But in the whiteout, they've strayed completely off course and into deep trouble.

  • She glanced up at the whiteout beyond the windows.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • TODD: I can't see the landing area in the whiteout conditions.

  • It could be whiteout conditions on the top of the Gun Barrel at Heavenly Valley, and my father could not have been happier.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The blizzard resulted in dangerous whiteout conditions, making it nearly impossible to drive safely.

  • Travelers were warned to stay indoors due to severe whiteout conditions blanketing the mountains.

Antonyms

30 2.7

How easy it is to see through something like clean water

How Visible

cloudless
8 1.0
to mist
3 3.1
fog
155 1.0
thick fog
2 1.3
blizzard
  • UK
90 3.2
whiteout
  • UK
7 8.0

Surface Forms

whiteout singular
whiteouts plural

Morphology

whiteout = white (transparent) = out + white

A straightforward compound of 'white' + 'out' describing a uniform whiteness that removes visual contrast; the meaning is literal and directly transparent. [Postprocessing: moved 'out' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Whiteout is a name for a weather event when clouds, fog, and snow mix so ground and sky look the same white and the horizon disappears. That is why a whiteout makes it hard to see anything.