cumulonimbus

noun cu·mu·lo·nim·bus \ ˈkyü-myə-(ˌ)lō-ˈnim-bəs \

Definition of cumulonimbus

: cumulus cloud having a low base and often spread out in the shape of an anvil extending to great heights — see cloud illustration

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Recent Examples of cumulonimbus from the Web

In it, falling rain evaporates before reaching the ground because of high temperatures, but lightning from the high cumulonimbus clouds reaches the ground.

— Washington Post, "Portugal, a country helplessly prone to forest fires," 19 June 2017
At the logjammed bars, attendees reached again and again for palomas over bountiful crudité platters offering strips of jicama, spears of asparagus and cumulonimbus piles of purple cauliflower.

— isaac oliver, New York Times, "Going (Nearly) Bare for a Good Cause," 5 Apr. 2017
Your fingers slip into routines, digital rituals encoded by childhood habits, neural pathways waking like heat lightning blinking through cumulonimbus clouds.

— matt peckham, Time, "Metroid: Samus Returns Is Exactly the Metroid the 3DS Needs," 27 June 2017
If a clear sky in a landscape looked boring, a photographer’s assistant — often a woman (thought to possess a surer hand) — could create a separate negative with billowing cumulonimbuses.

— john kelly, Washington Post, "A lecture on 19th-century photography techniques provides more than a snapshot," 8 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cumulonimbus.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.