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cooling tower

American

noun

Energy.

a usually cylindrical structure, sometimes of very great size, in which heat is extracted from water that has been used for cooling, as in a nuclear reactor.

cooling tower British

noun

a tall hollow structure in which steam is condensed or water that is used as a coolant in some industrial process is allowed to cool for reuse by trickling down a surface

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cooling tower

First recorded in 1900–05

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.

In October, the companies announced a deal to restart a NextEra nuclear reactor in Iowa that closed in 2020 following wind damage to a cooling tower.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026

Chillers circulate water or another coolant through pipes to absorb heat, then transfer it to a cooling tower or other system to remove it.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 8, 2026

Remi shuffled to her feet, or tried to; the earthquake knocked her backward into a cooling tower.

From Slate • Jan. 27, 2024

The outbreak at Amsterdam Nursing Home, a 409-bed facility in upper Manhattan, was the city’s worst since 2015 when a cooling tower in the Bronx was blamed for an infection that caused 16 deaths.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 14, 2022

Approximately 34 feet was the static head of water to be pumped over No. 2 cooling tower.

From Steam Turbines A Book of Instruction for the Adjustment and Operation of the Principal Types of this Class of Prime Movers by Collins, Hubert E. (Hubert Edwin)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023