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The earliest recorded appearance of the word blizzard meaning “a severe snowstorm” was in the April 23, 1870 issue of a newspaper published in Estherville, Iowa. Blizzard shows up again during the following years in several newspapers in Iowa and neighboring states, and by 1888, when a snowstorm paralyzed the Eastern seaboard, the word was well-known nationally. However, in other senses, the word blizzard existed earlier. Davy Crockett, for instance, used it twice in the 1830s, once to mean a rifle blast and once to mean for a blast of words. All of these uses seem related, but the ultimate origin of the word is still unclear.
Examples of blizzard in a Sentence
Donna Gordon Blankinship, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2026
Hollins returned from a four-game absence (abdomen) to produce 51 yards on two receptions in a blizzard at Denver.
—Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Feb. 2026
Long-standing ritual Space savers became a ritual in Chicago after the record-setting blizzard of January 1967, which blanketed the city with 23 inches of snow, according to numerous accounts.
—Jessica Mekles, FOXNews.com, 5 Feb. 2026
Beginning in Anchorage and finishing in Nome, competitors race through blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and gale force winds in a racing event that crosses through a rugged landscape of tundra and spruce forests, over hills and mountain passes, across rivers and even over sea ice.
—Jack Bantock, CNN Money, 3 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for blizzard
Cite this Entry
“Blizzard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blizzard. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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blizzard
noun
