noun
Meaning 1
A heap or mound.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
cumulus
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkjuːmjʊləs/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ˈkjumjələs/
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rhymes with -uːmjʊləs
noun
Meaning 2
A large white, puffy cloud that develops through convection.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: climatology, meteorology, natural-sciences
Examples
- 2007 September 1, "Who’s afraid of Google?: The world’s internet superpower faces testing times", in The Economist, The Economist Newspaper Ltd, ISSN 0013-0613, volume 384, number 8544, page 9, Ironically, there is something rather cloudlike about the multiple complaints surrounding Google. The issues are best parted into two cumuli: a set of “public” arguments about how to regulate Google; and a set of “private” ones for Google’s managers, to do with the strategy the firm needs to get through the coming storm.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
a collection of objects laid on top of each other
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pile, heap, mound, agglomerate, cumulation
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: collection, aggregation, accumulation, assemblage
Narrower terms: compost heap, compost pile, dunghill, midden, muckheap, muckhill, scrapheap, shock, slagheap, stack, pyre, funeral pyre, woodpile, stockpile
noun
Meaning 4
a globular cloud
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cumulus cloud
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cloud
Narrower terms: altocumulus, altocumulus cloud, thunderhead
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh1- Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh1mósder.? Latin cumulusbor. English cumulus Learned borrowing from Latin cumulus. Doublet of comble. Sense 2 (“type of cloud”) was coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.
Across languages
Translations
40 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: кълбест облак (kǎlbest oblak) — white, puffy cloud
- Catalan: cúmul — white, puffy cloud
- Chinese Cantonese: 積雲 /积云 (zik1 wan4) — white, puffy cloud
- Chinese Mandarin: 積雲 /积云 (jīyún) — white, puffy cloud
- Dutch: stapelwolk — white, puffy cloud
- Finnish: kumpupilvi — white, puffy cloud
- German: Quellwolke — white, puffy cloud
- German: Haufenwolke — white, puffy cloud
- German: Kumuluswolke — white, puffy cloud
- German: Kumulus — white, puffy cloud
- German: Cumulus — white, puffy cloud
- Hungarian: gomolyfelhő — white, puffy cloud
- Hungarian: kumulusz — white, puffy cloud
- Interlingua: cumulo — white, puffy cloud
- Italian: cumulo — white, puffy cloud
- Japanese: 積雲 (sekiun) — white, puffy cloud
- Korean: 적운 (jeogun) — white, puffy cloud
- Latin: cumulus — white, puffy cloud
- Latin: nubes cumula — white, puffy cloud
- Latvian: gubu mākonis — white, puffy cloud
- Macedonian: кумулус (kumulus) — white, puffy cloud
- Māori: kapua whakapipi — white, puffy cloud
- Māori: kapua taipua — white, puffy cloud
- Māori: taipua — white, puffy cloud
- Polish: obłok — white, puffy cloud
- Portuguese: cúmulo — white, puffy cloud
- Romanian: cumulus — white, puffy cloud
- Russian: кучевое облако (kučevoje) — white, puffy cloud
- Spanish: cúmulo — white, puffy cloud
- Swedish: cumulusmoln — white, puffy cloud
- Tagalog: buntuning alapaap — white, puffy cloud
- Turkish: kümülüs — white, puffy cloud
- Bulgarian: куп (kup) — mound or heap
- Bulgarian: купчина (kupčina) — mound or heap
- Finnish: kasa — mound or heap
- Japanese: 堆積 (taiseki) — mound or heap
- Portuguese: cúmulo — mound or heap
- Portuguese: acúmulo — mound or heap
- Portuguese: monte — mound or heap
- Portuguese: pilha — mound or heap
Real reading context