updraft
Americannoun
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An upward current of warm, moist air. With enough moisture, the current may visibly condense into a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud.
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Compare downdraft
Etymology
Origin of updraft
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at up-, draft
Vocabulary lists containing updraft
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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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.
Researchers from China, the US, and Israel estimated quasi-steady-state supersaturation using measurements of updraft speeds and cloud droplet size distributions.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Because as each goose flaps its wings, it creates an updraft for the following bird.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Lately, the AI updraft is breathing new life into even more of old tech.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
Traders will recall that Oracle’s earnings report last September created a massive updraft of more than 100 points in the stock — which it quickly gave back and then some.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 5, 2026
“Mama! The other goslings didn’t know that warm air rises. So I found an updraft and we spent the afternoon circling around and around and hardly flapped our wings at all!”
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
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.
