windy

windy — adjective

1. having strong or fast-moving air that you can feel outside, often making it diff

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

having strong or fast-moving air that you can feel outside, often making it difficult to hold onto things or stay comfortable

Example

Tunde put on his winter coat because it was a very windy morning.

collocation: windy morning / windy day / windy weather

The windy weather blew our garden chairs across the lawn last night.

collocation: windy weather

Common collocations
  • windy day
  • windy weather
  • windy morning
  • windy conditions
  • windy place
  • windy coast
  • windy hilltop
  • very windy
  • quite windy
  • extremely windy
  • so windy
Synonyms
  • breezy

    suggests a gentle, pleasant wind rather than a strong one

  • blustery

    describes wind that comes in sudden, strong bursts, often with noise

  • gusty

    focuses on short, powerful rushes of wind

  • stormy

    implies very bad weather with heavy rain or snow as well as strong wind

Antonyms

Common Mistakes

The weather is very wind.
The weather is very windy.
'wind' is a noun; add '-y' to form the adjective.
It was a wind day.
It was a windy day.
Use the adjective 'windy', not the noun 'wind', before a noun.

2. using far more words than needed to express an idea, making what you say or writ

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

using far more words than needed to express an idea, making what you say or write unclear and tiresome to follow

Example

The mayor's windy speech lasted forty minutes but said almost nothing about the new hospital.

collocation: windy speech

Sofie's teacher told her to cut the windy parts and keep only the main arguments.

Common collocations
  • windy speech
  • windy essay
  • windy report
  • windy email
  • windy style
  • windy prose
  • windy language
  • windy writer
  • too windy
  • rather windy
Synonyms
  • long-winded

    more common everyday word for the same meaning; less formal than 'windy'

  • verbose

    more formal and technical, common in academic or professional writing

  • wordy

    slightly less strong than 'windy'; suggests too many words without the negative judgment

  • rambling

    emphasises that the speech or writing is disorganised and goes off topic

Antonyms

Usage Note

This sense is much less common than the weather meaning and appears mostly in formal or written contexts, often with a negative tone to criticise overly long speech or text. The subject is typically a piece of writing (speech, essay, report, email) rather than a person directly.

Common Mistakes

The lecture was windy' (used about weather indoors).
The lecture was long-winded.
'windy' for 'verbose' is less common; 'long-winded' is the usual everyday word.
He is a windy person in normal conversation.
His speech was windy and full of unnecessary details.
This sense usually describes the speech or writing itself, not the speaker's general personality.

Word family

  • wind
    nounA1
  • windless
    adjectiveB2
  • windily
    adverbC1
  • windiness
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All five words describe moving air, but they differ in strength and feel. 'Windy' is the general-purpose word for noticeable wind — it is neutral and used for any situation where the air moves strongly enough to affect you. 'Breezy' describes a light, pleasant wind: a breezy afternoon is gentle and refreshing. 'Blustery' suggests strong, noisy, and irregular gusts that blow things around unpredictably. 'Gusty' focuses on sudden short rushes of wind, often in an otherwise calmer period. 'Stormy' is the strongest — it implies very bad weather with heavy rain, dark clouds, and dangerous winds. If you say 'It is a breezy day', you expect a mild, enjoyable wind; if you say 'It is a stormy day', you expect to stay indoors.

windy ↗breezyblusterygustystormy ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

From Old English 'windig', which was formed from 'wind' (moving air) plus the suffix '-ig' (which became modern '-y', meaning 'full of' or 'having the quality of'). So 'windy' literally meant 'full of wind'. The second sense, meaning 'using too many words', developed later as a metaphor: speech that goes on and on like the wind, without stopping.