blizzard

The word “blizzard” means a severe snowstorm with strong winds and very poor visibility. In plain terms, a violent snowstorm with heavy wind, or figuratively an overwhelming flood of something (paperwork, emails, etc.).

“Blizzard” is pronounced BLIHZ-uhd (/ˈblɪz.ɚd/ in IPA).

Here is “blizzard” used in a sentence: “The blizzard shut down the airport for two days.”

“Blizzard” is a noun.

The word “blizzard” dates back to around 1870. Origin uncertain — the word entered American English describing severe snowstorms in the 1870s, with earlier, unrelated regional uses meaning a blow or blast.

“Blizzard” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Blizzard” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a severe snowstorm with strong winds and very poor visibility.

A blizzard is a specific, severe type of snowstorm defined by strong winds and very poor visibility, whereas "snowstorm" is a general term for any storm producing snowfall, mild or severe. Not every snowstorm qualifies as a blizzard, but every blizzard is a snowstorm.

This figurative use of "blizzard" describes an overwhelming quantity of something arriving all at once, borrowing the sense of a snowstorm's intensity to describe being inundated. It is common in everyday speech to describe feeling swamped by a large volume of anything.

The literal sense always involves a severe snowstorm with strong wind and poor visibility, but the figurative sense of an overwhelming quantity can apply to anything arriving in large amounts, such as complaints, messages, or requests, with no snow involved at all.