Wintry describes anything that feels like winter or reminds you of winter's cold, harsh qualities. A wintry day might bring freezing temperatures, biting wind, and gray skies. A wintry landscape could be covered in snow and ice, with bare trees and frozen ponds.

When you step outside into a wintry blast of wind, you immediately want to pull your coat tighter and hurry inside. A wintry morning might make you grateful for your warm bed.

Writers often use wintry to describe more than just weather. Someone might give you a wintry smile that feels cold and unwelcoming, or speak in a wintry tone that suggests they're not particularly happy to see you. These uses capture how winter can feel harsh and uninviting. A wintry welcome at someone's house would be polite but chilly, lacking real warmth.

The word emphasizes winter's challenging side rather than its cozy or beautiful aspects. You wouldn't typically describe a cheerful snow day as wintry, but you might describe the bitter cold snap that comes after.