Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the downward flow of cold dense air.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective meteorology, of airflow Downslope on a mountainside.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of an air current or wind; moving downward or down a slope because of cooling especially at night

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek katabatikos, pertaining to descent, from katabatos, descending : kata-, cata- + batos, going; see gwā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Ancient Greek κατάβασις (katábasis, "descent")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word katabatic.

Examples

  • He explained that this area had a permanent offshore gale called the katabatic – Greek for flowing downhill.

    Deception Point Brown, Dan, 1964- 2001

  • He explained that this area had a permanent offshore gale called the katabatic—Greek for flowing downhill.

    Deception Point Dan Brown 2001

  • These are referred to as katabatic winds and are narrow, strong regions of wind blowing from the cold mountain plateau of Greenland down the steep mountainsides and out over the ocean, causing large waves.

    Space Business and Industry News at SpaceMart.com 2010

  • Still, there was the day when a 100 mph wind gust, known as a katabatic wind, ripped the tent Mortvedt was in from its stakes and sent him tumbling down the ice.

    unknown title 2009

  • Still, there was the day when a 100 mph wind gust, known as a katabatic wind, ripped the tent Mortvedt was in from its stakes and sent him tumbling down the ice.

    unknown title 2009

  • The winds, called katabatic winds, form as air slides down from the high plateau of Antarctica's interior and funnels into small drainages near the coast.

    Top Headlines at CU Boulder 2009

  • As this extremely cold, dense air sinks, it can get funneled through rugged channels in the ice and rock to become ferocious, deadly gusts called katabatic winds that howl toward the coast of Antarctica.

    Livescience.com 2009

  • Personally I think 'katabatic' would be a good name for a cat ...

    August 11th, 2006 dame_habonde 2006

  • It's on the receiving end of "katabatic" winds flowing virtually uninterrupted down the ice fields to the sea from the center of the continent.

    Wind Power From Way, Way Down 2001

  • Array them on the the sides of mountains and along the valleys to create katabatic tunnels and magnify the force and duration of the winds.

    Glacier-Sailing with the Katabatic Winds 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Phenomena purely climatic

    Can seem to us eerily vatic.

    That cold mountain breath

    Doesn't whisper of death

    It's merely a gust katabatic.

    December 1, 2015

  • parabatic anabatic

    December 1, 2015

  • An excellent site for the naming of winds:

    http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wind/

    December 1, 2015