cirrocumulus
Americannoun
plural
cirrocumulusnoun
plural
cirrocumuli-
A high-altitude cloud composed of a series of small, regularly arranged cloudlets in the form of ripples or grains. Cirrocumulus clouds generally form between 6,100 and 12,200 m (20,000 and 40,000 ft) and are composed exclusively of ice crystals.
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See illustration at cloud
Other Word Forms
- cirrocumular adjective
- cirrocumulative adjective
- cirrocumulous adjective
Etymology
Origin of cirrocumulus
Vocabulary lists containing cirrocumulus
Weather and Climate - Middle School
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Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Although there are infinite shapes a cloud can take, the common classification system includes 10 types: cumulonimbus, cumulus, stratus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus, altostratus, altocumulus, cirrostratus, cirrocumulus and cirrus.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Towards afternoon, cirrocumulus and cirrostratus began to appear moving northward.
From Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia by Wills, William John
Towards morning there were a few cirrocumulus clouds passing over north-east to south-west, but these disappeared before daylight.
From Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia by Wills, William John
A few cirrocumulus continued to pass over towards east.
From Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia by Wills, William John
A few cirrocumulus clouds were coming up from the east when we started, but we left them behind, and nothing was visible during the night but a thin hazy veil.
From Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia by Wills, William John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.