What does balmy mean?
Word: Balmy
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Balmy means pleasantly warm and gentle, used of weather or air.
Synonyms: mild, pleasant, warm, gentle
Antonyms: chilly, bitter, harsh
How do you spell balmy?
Syllables: balm - y
Tricky part: The l is silent, so students who spell by sound write bamy.
Watch out for: bamy, baamy
Memory tip: Picture a calm, balmy evening under a palm tree: calm, balmy and palm all hide a silent l.
Balmy in a sentence
Example 1: On balmy evenings in Kochi, families stroll along the sea front eating roasted corn.
Example 2: After the cold winter in Shimla, the first balmy days of spring brought everyone outdoors.
Example 3: A balmy breeze blew through the open windows as we ate dinner on the terrace.
Fun Fact
Balm first named a sweet-smelling oil from certain trees, used in ancient times to soothe sore skin. The word comes from the Latin balsamum, which also gave us balsam.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) chimney
b) valley
c) trolley
d) balmey
Show answer
d) balmey. Chimney, trolley and valley really end in -ey, but balmy ends in a plain y.
Sound Check
Which word does not rhyme with balmy?
a) pastrami
b) salami
c) clammy
d) origami
Show answer
c) clammy. Clammy has the short a of cat; salami, origami and pastrami share the long ah sound of balmy.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with the correct options:
1. balmy 2. vague 3. brief a. clear b. lengthy c. frosty
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
b) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
c) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
d) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
Show answer
a) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. Pair each word with its opposite: a balmy night and a frosty one, a vague answer and a clear one, a brief talk and a lengthy one.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
We sat on the roof on that balmy night, counting shooting stars and listening to the crikets in the feilds.
a) 3
b) 2
c) 1
d) 0
Show answer
b) 2. Crickets needs ck, and fields is spelt with ie.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. On a balmy evening, you would most likely need ___.
a) gloves and a scarf
b) only a light shirt
c) a thick woollen coat
d) an umbrella and boots
Show answer
b) only a light shirt
2. In December, which of these places would usually have balmy weather?
a) a glacier in Sikkim
b) a pass in Kashmir
c) a peak in Ladakh
d) a beach in Goa
Show answer
d) a beach in Goa
