haboob

Syllables: ha·boob/hæˈbuːb/US/hæˈbub/

haboob noun: a violent duststorm or sandstorm in the deserts of Arabia, North Africa, India, or North America.

Image: Zangou, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

haboob (plural haboobs)

A violent duststorm or sandstorm in the deserts of Arabia, North Africa, India, or North America.
- Near-synonym: duster
- Sandstorms were very prevalent during the first three months; they are called "Haboob." A fall in temperature of a few degrees in the hot months was always accompanied by these storms.1897 September, Henry T. W. Mann, “Report on the Working of the Army Veterinary Department with the Suakin Force, 1896”, in The Veterinary Journal and Annals of Comparative Pathology, volume XLV...
Synonyms:

duster

haboob meaning in Hindi, Arabic and Persian

haboob in Hindi

violent duststorm or sandstorm: हबूब habūb

haboob in Arabic

violent duststorm or sandstorm: هَبُوب habūb

haboob in Persian

violent duststorm or sandstorm: هبوب

Examples of haboob in a sentence

In the Central Sudan storms known as "haboobs" occur.1931, H[arold] E[dwin] Hurst, P. Phillips, “Meteorology”, in The Nile Basin (Physical Department Paper; number 26), volume I (General...
Americans used to call these storms “dusters,” but as a sign of increasing globalization, most news outlets now call them by their Gulf Arabic name haboob.2013 September, Giles Slade, “Drought in the Carbon Summer”, in American Exodus: Climate Change and the Coming Flight for Survival...

Synonyms of haboob

duster

Forms of haboob

plural	haboobs

Origin of haboob

[Alt: A large dust cloud over the city] Borrowed from Arabic هَبُوب (habūb, “strong wind, gale; haboob”), from the root ه ب ب (h b b) (“relating to wind blowing”).

Words that rhyme with haboob

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about haboob

What does haboob mean?: Haboob means a violent duststorm or sandstorm in the deserts of Arabia, North Africa, India, or North America.
What is haboob in Hindi?: Haboob in Hindi is हबूब (habūb). See Haboob meaning in Hindi.
How do you use haboob in a sentence?: In the Central Sudan storms known as "haboobs" occur.
What part of speech is haboob?: Haboob is a noun.
How do you pronounce haboob?: Haboob is pronounced /hæˈbuːb/ (UK).
What is the plural of haboob?: The plural of haboob is haboobs.

Words near haboob in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: haboob (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-haboob.wav.

Cite this entry: “haboob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/haboob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.