heat wave

or heat·wave

[ heet-weyv ]
See synonyms for heat wave on Thesaurus.com
nounMeteorology, Climatology.
  1. a period of abnormally hot and usually humid weather; heat event: I moved to the coast up north because summer back home has become one long, unbearable heat wave.

  2. an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly: Another heat wave is expected to form across the South and into the Northeast by week’s end.

Origin of heat wave

1
First recorded in 1875–80

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use heat wave in a sentence

  • The heat-wave had put forward the almanac, and the Newport season was in full swing nearly a month in advance of its usual date.

  • The next day the first intense heat wave of summer swept over Tunkett.

    Rilla of the Lighthouse | Grace May North
  • In the case of a sustained heat-wave, this would take place at some time during each night.

  • Here we were in the middle of a heat wave, the thermometer nudging ninety, and the old guy's wrist is like an icicle!

    The Scapegoat | Richard Maples
  • We were in a furnace—a heat-wave in which we were like to drown.

British Dictionary definitions for heat wave

heat wave

noun
  1. a continuous spell of abnormally hot weather

  2. (not in technical use) an extensive slow-moving air mass at a relatively high temperature

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012