cupola
Americannoun
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Architecture.
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a light structure on a dome or roof, serving as a belfry, lantern, or belvedere.
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a dome, especially one covering a circular or polygonal area.
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any of various domelike structures.
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Metallurgy. a vertical furnace for melting iron to be cast.
noun
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a roof or ceiling in the form of a dome
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a small structure, usually domed, on the top of a roof or dome
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a protective dome for a gun on a warship
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a vertical air-blown coke-fired cylindrical furnace in which iron is remelted for casting
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cupola
1540–50; < Italian < Latin cūpula, equivalent to cūp ( a ) tub + -ula -ule. Cf. cup
Explanation
A cupola is a rounded structure on top of a building's roof. Most cupolas have the shape of a dome, or even take the form of a small dome on top of a larger dome. Although the majority of cupolas are dome-shaped, the small, windowed projection on top of a train caboose is also called a cupola. A raised gun turret on a tank is yet another type of cupola, as is a furnace used for refining metal. The word cupola is Italian, from the Late Latin root cupula, "a little tub," a diminutive form of cupa, "cask or barrel."
Vocabulary lists containing cupola
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner
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Orbiting Jupiter
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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.
The great painter replied: “Fill the cupola with gold . . . and that will still not be enough to pay its worth.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
It features an 11-foot square cupola with windows on each side, and the tip of that is reachable only by ladder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
On a post office, I saw a strip of asphalt shingles under a cupola that had a copper roof.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
You capture the beauty looking out of the cupola, but also the claustrophobia of an I.S.S. “bedroom.”
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2024
The room was round, and capped by an absurd Byzantine cupola surrounded with windows, through which one could see all the rooftops of the city and feel close to the clouds.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
