mizzle

IPA/ˈmɪz.əl/
IPA/ˈmɪz.əl/

mizzle — noun

1. a fall of tiny water droplets between heavy mist and an outright shower — too th

1.nounC2
Definition

a fall of tiny water droplets between heavy mist and an outright shower — too thin to need an umbrella but enough to soak your jacket if you stay out long.

Example

Emre cycled home through a steady mizzle that fogged his glasses.

uncountable: a steady mizzle

A cold mizzle drifted across the moor as the hikers reached the summit.

collocation: cold / fine mizzle drifts

Common collocations
  • a steady mizzle
  • a cold mizzle
  • a thin mizzle
  • the mizzle clears
Synonyms
  • drizzle

    the standard, more common term across both British and American English

  • mist

    tinier droplets that hang in the air rather than fall; usually doesn't wet you

  • Scotch mist

    British informal — a very fine drizzle with low cloud, often in upland areas

Antonyms
  • downpour

    heavy, hard rain — the opposite end of the rainfall scale

  • cloudburst

    a sudden, violent fall of rain

Grammar Patterns

mass noun

Usage Note

Mostly British and Scottish dialect; in standard American writing 'drizzle' covers the same weather. Treat as uncountable — say 'a mizzle' or 'some mizzle', never 'mizzles'.

Common Mistakes

It is mizzle outside.
It is mizzling outside.' or 'There is a mizzle outside.
the noun needs an article or a determiner; for the weather happening right now, prefer the verb form.

mizzle — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five describe light wet weather but differ in droplet size, register, and regional flavour. 'Mizzle' is the smallest and the most regional — a British and Scottish word for fine drops between mist and drizzle that you barely see but eventually soak in. 'Drizzle' is the standard everyday word in both British and American English for light rain that falls in visible threads. 'Mist' is mostly suspended in the air rather than falling; it wets surfaces only slowly. 'Scotch mist' is a British label for very fine drizzle paired with low cloud, common in upland areas. 'Shower' is the heaviest of the five: real rain, short and often sudden. For weather reports today, prefer 'drizzle'; reach for 'mizzle' only in regional, literary, or nostalgic contexts.

mizzle ↗drizzle ↗mist ↗Scotch mistshower ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • a mizzle of rain
  • morning mizzle
  • sea mizzle

Adverbs

Phrases

  • a fine mizzle
  • a cold mizzle
  • started to mizzle
  • mizzled off down the lane

Prepositions

  • through the mizzle
  • against the mizzle
  • in the mizzle

Etymology

Old GermanicMiddle DutchLate Middle EnglishModern English

First recorded in late Middle English (around 1450) as 'misellen', meaning 'to rain in fine drops'. The word is probably related to Dutch 'miezelen' and Low German 'miseln', both for light drizzle, and ultimately to an Old Germanic root meaning 'fine dust' or 'small particle' — the same family as 'mist'. The much later British slang sense 'to slip away' appeared in the early nineteenth century, perhaps from the idea of disappearing as quietly as fine rain.