Hey, I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
If I asked you to describe the weather or more precisely the
temperature where you live right now, what would you say?
You might think of words like warm, hot, cool, and cold.
Those words are certainly accurate,
but you might also feel limited in your ability to truly describe
the temperature where you live. For example,
the word hot could mean that you feel warm after walking
outside for several minutes in a t-shirt and shorts.
Or perhaps it's so hot outside that it's
unsafe to be out for more than one or two minutes. For instance,
on a recent trip I took to Washington DC,
it was so hot and humid that after just two minutes outside,
I felt like I had been in a sauna or a steam room for more than 20
minutes. In this Confident English lesson,
we'll explore multiple ways to describe temperature in English.
This includes idiomatic and creative language,
as well as subtle distinctions with words that describe hot,
cold, warm, and cool temperatures. And along the way,
I have some pop quizzes for you. But first, if you don't already know,
I am Annemarie, an English confidence and fluency coach.
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It's a free in-depth training that will help you master your
confidence, fluency, and accuracy when speaking English.
And with that,
let's jump right into our first category with several words we can use
to describe cold temperatures. We're going to review the words frigid,
freezing, biting, bone, chilling, and foul.
Let's take a look at each one. We'll talk about its precise meaning,
and I'll share an example sentence as well. The first is frigid.
This means to be intensely cold. For example,
the ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic are frigid.
I'm sure it will cause hypothermia if you're in the water for very long.
The second word on our list is freezing.
And as you might imagine from the word freezer or the verb to freeze,
this indicates a temperature at which water will become frozen.
And of course, that temperature is quite cold,
maybe not as cold as frigid,
but still very cold. And a simple example sentence would be,
it's freezing outside. Don't forget to take your scarf and gloves.
Number three on our list is bone-chilling. As you might imagine,
this is temperature that is so cold you feel it in the depths
of your bones. For example,
if I think about the winter season where I grew up as a child,
I could say a bone-chilling,
wind burst into the room when I opened the window.
Similar to bone-chilling, cold temperatures is biting cold.
Imagine someone biting your skin. It would cause pain, right?
And the same is true with some temperatures that are extremely cold.
A biting cold temperature is so cold that it causes
physical pain or sharp pricks of pain on the skin. For example,
the biting wind blew in my face as I walked home.
And the last word for this category is foul.
Foul temperature or foul weather.
This word encompasses cold temperatures along with weather that might be
described as unpleasant, rainy, or windy.
And if you're experiencing foul weather or foul temperatures,
you might say to someone,
the weather is absolutely foul today. I wouldn't go out if I were you.
Before we continue with our next category on words we can use to describe cool
temperatures, I've got a pop quiz for you.
Imagine you get caught outside in a snowstorm.
There are strong winds and you are not dressed appropriately for the weather.
Which adjective would you use to complete this sentence?
It's outside,
and the winds make me wish I had dressed warmer.
What words would you use to fill in that sentence?
You could certainly use frigid or freezing in the first part of the sentence.
It's freezing outside or it's frigid outside,
and the biting winds make me wish I had dressed warmer.
And now let's review the next three words on our list, crisp, misty,
and frosty.
All three of these words can be used to describe cooler temperatures.
The first one, crisp perfectly, associates with the expression sweater,
weather. In my opinion,
sweater weather can be used to describe temperatures where you definitely need
a sweater to stay warm, maybe even a scarf,
but it's still pleasant outside. It's dry, it's cool,
and you can enjoy going on a long walk. Here's an example sentence.
It's such a lovely, crisp, autumn day. Let's go for a long walk.
The second word, misty isn't so pleasant.
Misty weather describes weather that is very cool,
and there are small drops of water. It's not quite rain,
but it's definitely wet outside, so it's not as pleasant to be in.
For example, the weather this morning is quite misty.
Be careful driving on your way to work because it might be difficult to see the
road ahead. The third word is frosty,
and this is kind of a middle ground between cold and freezing.
You definitely need warmer clothing for this temperature,
and there may be a very thin layer of ice on the grass,
on the sidewalks. It will melt quickly, but it is there,
so you have to be careful. And here's an example sentence.
We had a frosty morning yesterday.
I definitely needed a proper pair of winter boots to keep my feet warm on
my walk to work. And with that,
let's transition from cool temperatures to warm temperatures.
Here we'll look at the words tepid clement, balmy,
muggy, and humid.
If you live in a location with four major seasons such as
summer, fall, winter, and spring,
tepid would be a word you could use as you transition from winter to
spring or autumn to winter. In other words,
the temperature isn't very warm, but it's not cold either.
It's just kind of room temperature. In fact,
we use this word a lot to describe water that is room temperature,
water. You might, for example, describe water in a bath to be tepid water.
Another example might be the temperature in New York is surprisingly
tepid for the summer. In other words, it's quite a bit cooler.
It's just slightly warm,
whereas normally it's quite hot during the summer months.
The second word on our list is Clement. This means pleasant,
not extreme temperatures. For example,
it's surprisingly Clement for this time of year.
The next one is balmy,
and this word for me perfectly describes how I want the temperature
to feel if I'm on a beach.
If you can describe the temperature as balmy,
it means that it's warm and there's a nice gentle breeze to keep things
just cool enough. You're not hot, you're not cold, it's perfect.
For example,
most people flock to warmer countries during the winter to enjoy
balmy weather.
The next two words can be used in conjunction with warm temperatures to
describe humidity in the air,
there's a slight distinction between the two,
and we're going to start with the word that is slightly less uncomfortable,
muggy. If you describe the weather as muggy,
then you're indicating that the temperatures are quite warm and
it's unpleasant outside. There's a lot of water or moisture in the air.
For example, Toronto feels uncomfortable and muggy during peak summer months.
The word humid could be used as a synonym. However,
it also indicates that it's gone beyond feeling unpleasantly warm.
It's in fact quite hot and very unpleasant due to the
excessive moisture in the air. For example,
if you're preparing to go on a trip and you're packing a suitcase,
you might say to someone, tomorrow's supposed to be quite humid.
Are you sure you don't wanna pack looser clothing?
Before we go on to our final category with words we can use to describe hot
weather, let's do another pop quiz.
I want you to imagine you've traveled to California and after looking at the
weather forecast, you anticipated a lot of rain. However,
during your stay, the weather has been warm, the skies have been blue,
there's a nice gentle breeze. With all of that in mind,
what adjective would you use in this sentence?
I'm so relieved that the weather is nice and this week,
what do you think? A wonderful word to use here would be, balmy.
It's warm, not too hot, and there's a nice gentle breeze to keep things cool.
In highlighting words about warm weather,
we talked about the words muggy and humid.
These could certainly be used to describe hot weather as well.
Muggy or humid temperatures always indicate that it's warm or
excessively warm, and there's a lot of moisture in the air,
so we can use those words for either category
beyond muggy and humid. We're also going to look at the words boiling,
blistering, and scorching.
Each of these describes extremely hot weather.
For example, let's start with the word boiling.
If you think about boiling water,
you know that the temperature of the water is so hot,
it would cause terrible burns on your skin.
If it's boiling outside,
it is extremely hot and very uncomfortable.
And an example sentence might be it's boiling outside.
Let's wait until this evening when it's a bit cooler to take a walk.
Similar to boiling is the word scorching. However,
scorching indicates a very dry excessive heat.
For example, if you imagine being in the desert in the middle of the day,
or perhaps you touch a hot bench that has been sitting in the sun
for hours, the temperature of that heat might be scorching.
Another example sentence,
nothing could be better than ice cream on a scorching day.
The final word on our list to describe hot temperature is the word
blistering. This is severely hot,
particularly on the skin. For example,
imagine someone with a terrible sunburn.
After a couple of days, the skin may start to blister,
which is quite painful,
and you could use this word in a sentence such as,
I'd rather not go out in this blistering weather.
I really don't want a bad sunburn.
Now that you have a variety of new vocabulary to precisely describe
temperature, I have two practice questions for you. Number one,
using words from this lesson today,
I want you to describe the temperature where you live,
and as always,
you can share your example with me in the comment section below.
My second question goes one step further.
Rather than describe the temperature in just one location,
I want you to compare your two favorite cities.
For example, if I were to choose two cities,
I might select a city here in California where I live,
and I might choose Washington DC,
so two sides of the United States with very different temperatures during
the month of August. For example,
if I were to talk about Washington DC in August,
I would describe it as scorching, maybe blistering,
and definitely muggy. However,
here in California where I live,
I would describe August temperatures as possibly crisp.
It's true, and maybe if I'm lucky, balmy as well.
So now it's your turn. I want you to choose two cities,
think about a particular month during the year,
and describe the average temperature in those two cities
during that particular timeframe. Again,
you can share your examples with me in the comments below.
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Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time.