—| B2-C1 (upper-intermediate to advanced) |—

In North American English, this word typically means:

• NOUN (countable; brand-related): soft ice cream mixed with fruit, candy, chocolate, syrup, and/or cookies or pastry crust served in a cup; popular product of the fast food chain Dairy Queen (see example 1)

• NOUN (countable; standard): a storm that consists of strong winds and heavy snowfall (see example 2)

• VERB (standard): to have weather with strong winds and heavy snowfall (see example 3)

EXAMPLES:

1. “Blizzards these days are so expensive! I mean, though they are delicious, I feel like they no longer have as much stuff in them as they used to. When I was a kid, I would order the Reese Peanut Butter Cup with cookie dough bits and hot fudge. It would be loaded with ingredients! But now, you hardly get any Reese cups and the fudge is applied so lightly that the ice cream is still white. Sadly, I don’t think blizzards are worth it anymore.”

2. “The only time that I can recall school ever getting cancelled due to a blizzard was when I was in high school. The moment you stepped outside, you were in an endless white abyss; you couldn’t see anything beyond a metre in front of you–it was just white!”

3. “The weather forecast says that it is supposed to blizzard this weekend. Guess I better find my shovel….”

Have you ever tried a blizzard at Dairy Queen? What did you think of it? What about getting caught in a blizzard? Where was it and how long did it last? Let me know in the comments below.

ASSOCIATED WORDS:

Some words associated with “blizzard” include:

• blizzarding (adjective; informal)

• blizzardy (adjective; informal)

• to be blizzarding out[side] (collocation; informal)

• to get caught in a blizzard (collocation; standard)

Some synonyms of “blizzard” include:

• snowstorm (noun; countable; standard)

• to storm (verb; standard)