cumulus

noun

cu·mu·lus ˈkyü-myə-ləs

plural cumuli ˈkyü-myə-ˌlī

-ˌlē

Synonyms of cumulus next

: heap, accumulation

[New Latin, from Latin] : a dense puffy cloud form having a flat base and rounded outlines often piled up like a mountain see cloud illustration

Examples of cumulus in a Sentence

the cumulus of sundry things that fill up one's attic and somehow sum up a lifetime of experiences

Recent Examples on the Web Fair weather waterspouts, on the other hand, form upward from the water in light wind conditions along a line of developing cumulus clouds. —

Divya Murthy, Detroit Free Press, 18 July 2023 To carry out the freeze-drying process, Wakayama’s team harvested support cells known as cumulus cells from around the oocyte of female black-furred mice. —

Megan Molteni, STAT, 8 July 2022 The weather setup for Wednesday will be chock full of cirrus, cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds bubbling up across Northern California. —

Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 May 2023 While a traditional tornado often travels for many miles and can also be miles wide, a fire tornado relies on the updraft created by the fire and the cumulus clouds above to form and draw energy, Sandler said. —

Joe Siess, oregonlive, 28 July 2021 In a catalogue essay, Pieter Roelofs, one of the show’s curators and the head of paintings and sculpture at the museum, points out that Vermeer hangs this sky with low cumulus clouds of a sort that were almost never represented by his contemporaries. —

Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023 Usually the result is a big puff of cumulus, but under certain rare conditions what forms instead is an arrow-straight, rotating tube of fluff—a rope or roll cloud. —

Emily Elert, Discover Magazine, 26 July 2012 Landspouts are similar to tornadoes, but the circulation from the funnel starts at ground level and is pulled up into towering cumulus clouds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. —

Christian Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 21 Mar. 2023 The rest of the city will enjoy puffy cumulus clouds dotting the sky this afternoon. —

Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cumulus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.