downburst
noun
downburst is spelled D-O-W-N-B-U-R-S-T: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 71 million words in written English, the 265,644th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, downburst means “A powerful downward air current, especially one during a thunderstorm, often creating powerful divergent horizontal winds and strong wind shear upon…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of downburst is downbursts.
How many letters and syllables are in downburst?
| Letters | 9: D-O-W-N-B-U-R-S-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 71 million words; the 265,644th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is downburst?
Downburst appears about once in every 71 million words in written English, the 265,644th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of downburst
- downbursts plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does downburst mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A powerful downward air current, especially one during a thunderstorm, often creating powerful divergent horizontal winds and strong wind shear upon impacting the surface.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Downburst in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense air current:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rafale descendante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does downburst come from?
From down- + burst, coined by American meteorologist Horace R. Byers and Japanese and American meteorologist Tetsuya T. Fujita in November 1975.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).