When you’re looking for one word to cover a range of wintertime precipitation from freezing rain to snow, would you choose wintery or wintry?
The forecast is calling for a light dose of winter weather for my area this week.It’s big news here because we almost never have snow. The forecast is calling for up to two inches of snow. This causes a somewhat amusing level of panic in people who normally don’t see it that often But parts of the area might see freezing rain, sleet or snow, a mix of precipitation types we might describe as either wintery or wintry.
But which word is correct?
Well, I thought I’d take a quick look before the real panic begins. (I’ll know when that happens because grocery stores will suddenly run out of milk and bread. Those seem to be the only things that always run out. Do people make milk sandwiches?!?)
Since I have to follow AP Style, the newswriting style The Associated Press Stylebook defines, that’s the first thing I checked. But the Stylebook doesn’t actually have a listing for either word.
My second option is then to go to the Associated Press’s website and search for the words. If one comes up and the other doesn’t, even though no listing appears in the Stylebook, that might give me an answer. But right away, I found these two headlines:
The heaviest snowfall in a decade is possible as a wintery blast roils parts of the US
Drivers skid and crash as wintry mix grips central US before moving east
Well, that doesn’t exactly clear it up, does it?
Here’s what I found in the dictionary
My third option is to go to the preferred dictionary that AP relies on: Merriam-Webster. When I looked up wintery, the dictionary takes me directly to the definition for wintry. Merriam-Webster lists wintery as a synonym for wintry, nothing that the wintery spelling is a variant that’s “less common.”
That implies that the dictionary prefers the word wintry, but doesn’t go so far as to relegate wintery to the “nonstandard” classification. (Words like irregardless live under that label.)
Both words are correct and can be used, even if one seems to be the better choice.
Do keep in mind, though, that pronunciation also matters. If you use wintery, it takes three syllables. Wintry, on the other hand, only has two!
Regardless of where you are, I hope the weather’s good to you this week. If you find yourself under a blanket of winter weather, stay safe and stay indoors if you can. (And enjoy all that milk and bread.)