cumulus

[ kyoo-myuh-luhs ]

/ ˈkyu myə ləs /

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noun, plural cu·mu·lus.

a heap; pile.

a cloud of a class characterized by dense individual elements in the form of puffs, mounds, or towers, with flat bases and tops that often resemble cauliflower: as such clouds develop vertically, they form cumulonimbus.

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Origin of cumulus

1650–60; <New Latin (Latin: mass, pile)

Words nearby cumulus

cumuliform, cumulo-, cumulonimbus, cumulostratus, cumulous, cumulus, cumulus clouds, Cuna, Cunard, Cunaxa, cunctation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cumulus in a sentence

Suddenly, I found myself hiking through clouds, wisps of cumulus drifting across the trail and through the dwarf pine trees and between barren, limbless trunks of the high-alpine forest.
My Worst Hike: My Guide Kept Ditching Me on an Active Volcano|cobrien|February 17, 2022|Outside Online
Using airborne instruments to analyze small cumulus clouds affected by the smoke, the scientists found that these clouds contained, on average, five times as many water droplets as unaffected clouds.
Clouds affected by wildfire smoke may produce less rain|Rachel Crowell|September 9, 2021|Science News
On our second day, the smoke scattered in the midsummer breeze and high cumulus clouds, and the air was clearer.
Otherworldly Adventure at Crater Lake National Park|Emily Pennington|March 24, 2021|Outside Online
Cumulus Media, which now owns the former Dial Global, declined to comment on the suit for this story.
The Godfather of Right-Wing Radio|Caitlin Dickson|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And I love these wonderful fat cumulus clouds that we get in the sky.
Breaking Bad Finale: Lost Interviews With Bryan Cranston & Vince Gilligan|Andrew Romano|September 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
“We've had a tough go of it this last year,” Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said Tuesday morning.
The High Cost of Rush: Talker Bleeds Millions From His Carriers as Toxic Talk Slumps, Cumulus Seems Set to Part Ways With Rush Limbaugh|John Avlon|May 7, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A great cumulus cloud piled up like a Himalayan peak in the west beyond my mouse-gray dwelling.
The Idyl of Twin Fires|Walter Prichard Eaton
He pointed upward to a break in the trees, to a large cumulus cloud that had assumed a fantastic shape.
The Shepherd of the Hills|Harold Bell Wright
In the afternoon small cumulus clouds arose in the horizon, and we again put forward under a temperature of 95 degrees.
Early Western Travels 1748-1846, Volume XVI|Various
It was a detached and imperial cumulus, a great frothy pyramid that sailed in majestic splendor.
Tam O' The Scoots|Edgar Wallace
He received the acknowledgment and brought his machine around to face the lordly bulk of the cumulus.
Tam O' The Scoots|Edgar Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for cumulus

cumulus

/ (ˈkjuːmjʊləs) /

noun plural -li (-ˌlaɪ)

a bulbous or billowing white or dark grey cloud associated with rising air currentsCompare cirrus (def. 1), stratus

histology the mass of cells surrounding a recently ovulated egg cell in a Graafian follicle

Word Origin for cumulus

C17: from Latin: mass

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

Scientific definitions for cumulus

cumulus

[ kyōōm′yə-ləs ]

Plural cumuli (kyōōm′yə-lī′)

A dense, white, fluffy cloud with a flat base, a multiple rounded top, and a well-defined outline. The bases of cumulus clouds form primarily in altitudes below 2,000 m (6,560 ft), but their tops can reach much higher. Cumulus clouds are generally associated with fair weather but can also bring rain when they expand to higher levels. The clouds' edges are well-defined when they are composed of water droplets and fuzzy when made up of ice crystals. See illustration at cloud.