meteorological

IPA/ˌmiːtiərəˈlɒdʒɪkl/
KK[mˌitiˌɔrəlˈɑdʒɪkəl]IPA/ˌmiːtiərəˈlɑːdʒɪkl/

meteorological — adjective

  • meteorologicalpositive
  • more meteorologicalcomparative
  • most meteorologicalsuperlative

1. describing anything that is connected to the scientific study of weather, such a

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describing anything that is connected to the scientific study of weather, such as changes in temperature, air pressure, wind, and rainfall across the Earth's atmosphere.

Example

The meteorological office issued a warning about the approaching typhoon.

collocation: meteorological office

Adisa studied the meteorological data before deciding to cancel the outdoor event.

collocation: meteorological data

Common collocations
  • meteorological office
  • meteorological data
  • meteorological report
  • meteorological conditions
  • meteorological forecast
  • meteorological model
  • meteorological event
Synonyms
  • weather

    everyday term; meteorological is the formal, scientific equivalent (a weather map vs. a meteorological chart)

  • atmospheric

    broader — includes air composition and pressure, not just daily weather; used in both science and general description

  • climatic

    refers to long-term patterns over decades or regions, not to immediate weather conditions

Grammar Patterns

meteorological + noun

be + meteorological

Usage Note

This word is most often used before nouns such as office, report, data, conditions, and forecast. In everyday conversation, the simpler noun weather is preferred (a weather report, not a meteorological report), while meteorological belongs to formal, scientific, or official contexts.

Common Mistakes

The meteorological today is rainy.
The weather today is rainy.
meteorological is an adjective, not a noun; use weather as the noun for everyday description.
There have been meteorological changes in the company.
There have been meteorological changes in the region.
meteorological only relates to weather and atmosphere, not to business or society.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

The adjective meteorological belongs to the formal language of science and forecasting. While weather is the everyday noun for what is happening outside (rain, sun, wind), the adjective form weather is used in casual compounds (weather report, weather app). Meteorological, by contrast, signals an official, data-driven source — you read a weather forecast on your phone, but a meteorological office issues a warning. Atmospheric is broader: it includes not just weather but also air composition, pressure systems, and greenhouse gases; it is still scientific but covers more ground than meteorological. Climatic refers strictly to long-term patterns over decades or regions (climatic zones, climatic change) and should not be used for tomorrow's conditions. In practice: 'The climatic data shows a warming trend over 50 years,' but 'The meteorological conditions caused delays at the airport today.'

meteorological ↗weather ↗atmospheric ↗climatic ↗

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Meteorological comes from the Greek word meteōrologia, meaning 'discussion of high things' — from meteōron ('thing high up in the sky') and -logia ('study of'). It passed into Latin and then French before arriving in English in the 1700s. At first it referred to anything in the sky, including shooting stars (also called meteors), but over time its meaning narrowed to the study of weather.