Words / K / General

katabatic

adjective/ˌkatəˈbatɪk/

C2CEFR level
95/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

Denoting a wind of cold, dense air flowing downhill under gravity.

At nightfall a katabatic wind poured off the glacier and chilled the whole valley.

Similar: downslope, drainage wind

Origin: From Greek katabatikos 'descending'.

Topic: wind in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: wind