Kilauea

American  

[kee-lou-ey-ah, -ey-uh, kil-oh-] / ˌki laʊˈeɪ ɑ, -ˈeɪ ə, ˌkɪl oʊ- /

noun

1. an active volcano on the Island of Hawaii: the youngest of the five shield volcanoes that form the island and the most active, having erupted almost continuously since 1983. 4,091 feet (1,247 meters).

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Kilauea British  

/ ˌkiːlɑːuːˈeɪə /

noun

1. a crater on the E side of Mauna Loa volcano, on SE Hawaii island: the world's largest active crater. Height: 1247 m (4090 ft). Width: 3 km (2 miles)

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Etymology

Origin of Kilauea

First recorded in 1840–45; from Hawaiian: literally, “much spreading, spewing”

Example Sentences

Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, is spewing large columns of lava into the air.

From Barron's • Nov. 10, 2025

Axial Seamount, by contrast, is a volcano that, during eruptions, oozes lava — similar to the type of eruptions in Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii.

From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2025

The little boy wandered off from his family and "in a split second, ran straight toward the 400ft cliff edge" of the Kilauea volcano, the park said.

From BBC • Dec. 28, 2024

The observatory logged roughly 250 earthquakes beneath the Kilauea summit in the hours before the eruption began.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 3, 2024

We had little refreshing sleep, and were glad to see the smoke of the Kilauea as she came round a point in the distance at six o'clock in the morning.

From Scenes in the Hawaiian Islands and California by Anderson, Mary E. (Mary Evarts)