It is pouring with rain vs It is pouring (2025)

1. It is pouring with rain.
2. It is pouring.

Are both sentence correct and do they have the same meaning?

Thanks.

You are very welcome baab. Language is a living and dynamic and peculiar thing. Sometimes, the books are not always the most accurate or reliable way of learning. That is why this website is here!

Good luck in your studies and I would say that you already have a more natural flair for English than any book could teach you if your instinct told you that the book was not really indicative of the more popular usage in this situation.

DW said:

Well, "it's pouring" is OK and means "it's raining hard". As for "it's pouring with rain", it's not how we would express this in AmE, since in AmE it is: "it's pouring rain".

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Is it really okay to say "it is pouring rain"? Isn't "rain" redundant there?

I think "it is pouring" already means "it is raining heavily".

I can think of three possibilities in UK English:

It's pouring.
It's pouring with rain.
It's pouring down.

All mean the same thing and all are used.

EdisonBhola said:

Is it really okay to say "it is pouring rain"?

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For some AmE speakers, yes, apparently (see post #4).

For AusE speakers...

"It's pouring" / "It's pouring with rain" / "It's pouring down" are all natural, idiomatic, and commonly used.

"It's bucketing down" and "It's pelting" / "It's pelting down" likewise.

"It's teeming" / "It's teeming with rain" are probably less commonly used, but still hold a place.

"It's raining cats and dogs" is a little tired and clichéd these days, I feel, but well-known and very likely still used.

And, "It's hailing taxis" might add a little levity.

I haven't heard an American say "It's pouring with rain" but I've heard plenty say "It's pouring rain".

It might be something you say to introduce the context. Say you're on a phone call with someone hundreds of miles away. You might say "it's pouring rain" here to make the context clear that you're talking about weather. You could say "it's pouring here" but pouring doesn't always refer to weather so by adding rain you make the context crystal clear right away.

We also say "it's pouring out." meaning outside. It's true that it doesn't often pour inside but we still say that.

The school has an indoor cafeteria in case of inclement weather but even if it's pouring out, it's mostly empty. We'll picnic in the halls and in empty classrooms before we'll eat in the cafeteria.

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Yes, both sentences are correct, but they have slightly different meanings.

1. "It is pouring with rain." - This sentence specifically emphasizes that it is raining very heavily, with "pouring with rain" indicating a strong downpour.

2. "It is pouring." - This sentence is less specific and can be used in two different contexts:
- It can mean that it is raining heavily, similar to the first sentence.
- Alternatively, it can be used in a non-weather context to mean that something is coming down in large quantities, like "It is pouring out of the sky" could refer to rain or any other substance.

So while both sentences can be used to describe heavy rain, the first one is more specific to that context, while the second one can be used more broadly.

Lydia Yu said:

any other substance.

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For example, Lydia ... ?

ewie said:

For example, Lydia ... ?

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Haha！Sorry，actually I don’t know.🥹

CaptainZero said:

Anyway, about the difference between It's pouring and It's pouring with rain... with rain adds clarity and fullness to the statement, as I see it. The rain is pouring down — It's pouring with rain: we know it's rain that's pouring, but this is a stronger and clearer way to express the idea than simply saying It's pouring.

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Have you ever heard anyone (or yourself) say, "It's pouring with rain"? I haven't in US or Canada.

Yes. I often say "It's pouring with rain" and I often hear it. This is a common and very standard expression in BrE. See #8, for example.

Before I came across this thread, I did not realise that the version without "with" existed.

bennymix said:

Have you ever heard anyone (or yourself) say, "It's pouring with rain"? I haven't in US or Canada.

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CaptainZero said:

For AusE speakers...

"It's pouring" / "It's pouring with rain" / "It's pouring down" are all natural, idiomatic, and commonly used.

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(Bolding added )

Roxxxannne said:

I've heard and use other expressions to emphasize how heavily the rain is coming down.

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Yes. In my version of English at least one such expression is the rather crude It's (absolutely) pissing down!

That's extremely common here too.

Another version is 'It's chucking it down'.

And I vaguely remember something involving 'stair rods', but I'm not sure exactly how the expression goes.

I don't ever hear bucket as a verb but I do hear it as a noun.

- The rain is coming down in buckets.

CaptainZero said:

It's (absolutely) pissing down!

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Just curious - is this heard in the US?

Not really, no. (At least not to any great degree.)

Here's the ngram:

But then I got to thinking that pissing down rain might be more likely in American English. Here's the ngram for that. It definitely looks different.

Here's the frequency relative to each other:

Google Books Ngram Viewer

It seems to be a lot more heavily favored in the UK.

CaptainZero said:

"It's pissing down"

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... like a cow on a flat rock.