Meaning: rain

Illustrative Context

I saw him standing in the rain.

Disambiguation

• The noun rain, not the verb to rain.

Target Sense

• The most generic term for rain, in the prototypical sense of precipitation in liquid form, directly visible and perceptible.
• This must be explicitly differentiated from the broad sense of precipitation of any form, which is too general, and a hypernym to the narrower target sense for IE-CoR. That is:
  • Do not enter a more abstract term for precipitation. Only in the rare case of a language whose most basic lexeme does not distinguish between (liquid) rain and (frozen) snow, then this may be the target lexeme, since this makes it also the default term used for the target sense and illustrative context here.
  • Avoid terms specific to frozen (or even partly frozen) forms of precipitation: snow, hail, sleet.
  • Avoid terms specific to barely perceptible dew or condensation.
• The target sense here is of ‘rain’ as in turn a hypernym that covers a range of finer distinctions, for rain of different types, intensity or duration. Avoid any such narrower terms, e.g. English drizzle, downpour, shower.
• See also, and contrast with, the definition of the separate IE-CoR meaning snow.