Showing results for funnel cloud. Search instead for funnel+cloud.

funnel cloud

American

noun

a rapidly rotating funnel-shaped cloud extending downward from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud, which, if it touches the surface of the earth, is a tornado or waterspout.

funnel cloud British

noun

a whirling column of cloud extending downwards from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud: part of a waterspout or tornado

"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

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 tornado comes less than a day after a funnel cloud briefly touched down in the county of Madera, about 30 minutes north of Fresno.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2024

A funnel cloud differs from a tornado in that it doesn't touch the ground.

From BBC • Dec. 10, 2023

Capitol building on Tuesday afternoon were treated to a unusual sight: the unmistakable shape of a funnel cloud extending diagonally from the sky and seemingly almost reaching the tip of the Capitol dome itself.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 25, 2023

In early 2021, a Wikipedia editor peered into the future and saw what looked like a funnel cloud on the horizon: the rise of GPT-3, a precursor to the new chatbots from OpenAI.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2023

I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke’s face.

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan

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