Noun

(en noun)

A period of below average rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Donald Worster , title=A Drier and Hotter Future , volume=100, issue=1, page=70 , magazine= citation , passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought , and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}

(by extension, informal) A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.

Noun

(en noun)

(climatology) A drought lasting for decades or centuries.

*{{quote-book, 2000, Joan Whitmore, Drought Management on Farmland citation

, passage=The most severe droughts also tend to be the most widespread and prolonged, but fortunately these megadroughts are far less frequent than the lesser droughts which are vastly in the majority