Definitions for drought
drought

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. drought, drouthnoun

   a shortage of rainfall

   "farmers most affected by the drought hope that there may yet be sufficient rain early in the growing season"

2. drought, drouthnoun

   a prolonged shortage

   "when England defeated Pakistan it ended a ten-year drought"

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. droughtnoun

   A period of below average rain fall, longer and more severe than a dry spell

2. droughtnoun

   A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.

3. Etymology: drugaþ

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. DROUGHTnoun

   Etymology: drugode, Saxon; drowth, Scottish.

   1. Dry weather; want of rain.

   O earth! I will befriend thee more with rain
   Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
   In Summer’s drought I’ll drop upon thee still. William Shakespeare, Tit. Andr.

   Great droughts in Summer, lasting ’till the end of August, some gentle showers upon them, and then some dry weather, portend a pestilent Summer the year following. Francis Bacon.

   To south the Persian bay,
   And inaccessible th’ Arabian drought. John Milton, Parad. Reg.

   As torrents in the drowth of Summer fail,
   So perisht man from death shall never rise. George Sandys.

   They were so learned in natural philosophy, that they foretold earthquakes and storms, great droughts, and great plagues. William Temple.

   In a drought the thirsty creatures cry,
   And gape upon the gather’d clouds for rain. Dryden.

   Upon a shower, after a drought, earthworms and landsnails innumerable come out of their lurking places. John Ray.

   2. Thirst; want of drink.

   His carcase, pin’d with hunger and with drought. John Milton.

   One whose drought
   Yet scarce allay’d, still eyes the current stream,
   Whose liquid murmur heard, new thirst excites. John Milton, P. L.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Drought

   A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.: 1157  This means that a drought is "a moisture deficit relative to the average water availability at a given location and season". A drought can last for days, months or years. Drought often exerts substantial impacts on the ecosystems and agriculture of affected regions, and causes harm to the local economy. Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing and subsequent wildfires. Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water vapour. Drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world, becoming more extreme and less predictable due to climate change, which dendrochronological studies date back to 1900. There are three kinds of drought effects, environmental, economic and social. Environmental effects include the drying of wetlands, more and larger wildfires, loss of biodiversity. Economic consequences include disruption of water supplies for municipal economies; lower agricultural, forest, game, and fishing outputs; higher food-production costs; and problems with water supply for the energy sector. Social and health costs include the negative effect on the health of people directly exposed to this phenomenon (excessive heat waves), high food costs, stress caused by failed harvests, water scarcity, etc. Prolonged droughts have caused mass migrations and humanitarian crisis. Many plant species, such as those in the family Cactaceae (or cacti), have drought tolerance adaptations like reduced leaf area and waxy cuticles to enhance their ability to tolerate drought. Some others survive dry periods as buried seeds. Semi-permanent drought produces arid biomes such as deserts and grasslands. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low productivity. The most prolonged drought ever in the world in recorded history continues in the Atacama Desert in Chile (400 years). Throughout history, humans have usually viewed droughts as "disasters" due to the impact on food availability and the rest of society. Humans have often tried to explain droughts as either a natural disaster, caused by humans, or the result of supernatural forces.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. drought

   A drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water in a particular region. This natural disaster can be severe enough to cause issues in agriculture, ecosystems, and economies, due to the scarcity of water. The severity and impact of droughts can be exacerbated by higher temperatures associated with climate change.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Droughtnoun

   dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity

2. Droughtnoun

   thirst; want of drink

3. Droughtnoun

   scarcity; lack

4. Etymology: [OE. droght, drougth, dru, AS. druga, from drugian to dry. See Dry, and cf. Drouth, which shows the original final sound.]

WikidataRate this definition:2.8 / 4 votes

1. Drought

   Drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply whether surface or underground water. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy. Many plant species, such as cacti, have adaptations such as reduced leaf area and waxy cuticles to enhance their ability to tolerate drought. Some others survive dry periods as buried seeds. Semi-permanent drought produces arid biomes such as deserts and grasslands. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low productivity. This global phenomenon has a widespread impact on agriculture. Lengthy periods of drought have long been a key trigger for mass migration and played a key role in a number of ongoing migrations and other humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Drought

   drowt, Drouth, drowth, n. dryness: want of rain or of water: thirst.—ns. Drought′iness, Drouth′iness.—adjs. Drought′y, Drouth′y, full of drought: very dry: wanting rain, thirsty. [A.S. drúgathe, dryness—drúgian, to dry.]

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. DROUGHT

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Drought is ranked #64200 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Drought surname appeared 310 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Drought.
   
   98.3% or 305 total occurrences were White.

Matched Categories

1. • Dryness
   • Time Period

How to pronounce drought?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say drought in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of drought in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of drought in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of drought in a Sentence

1. Mohamed Babiker:

   We are already seeing the impacts of this drought on vulnerable people, rates of malnutrition and water borne diseases like diarrhea and colitis are on the rise.

2. Daniel Swain:

   The face of droughts is changing, it’s easier and easier to get into a drought – even following a really wet winter – because we just have that growing evaporative demand and hotter summers.

3. Hernan Chavez:

   The drought has really hit us hard.

4. Franck Wohe:

   We started distributing the high-yielding drought-resistant Mercedes variety to help farmers get production fast within 18 months.

5. Mary Griffin:

   Many people are saying it's the worst drought in memory.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=drought
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Drought
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=drought
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drought
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=drought
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=drought
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html